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DAVID   LUBIN 


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DAVID   LUBIN 


A  STUDY  IN  PRACTICAL  IDEALISM 


BY 
OLIVIA  ROSSETTI  AGRESTI 


WVAD'QfS 


BOSTON 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY 

1922 


Copyright,  19SZ, 
Bt  Littlb,  Brown,  and  CoMPAinr. 


All  rights  reserved 
Published  November,  1922 


Pbintxd  in  thb  United  States  or  Aubbica 


A  RECOLLECTION  OF  DAVID  LUBIN 

More  than  fifteen  years  ago  I  first  met  David  Lubin. 
We  were  in  Rome,  dining  with  the  Nelson  Gays,  who  invited 
several  notables,  political  and  literary,  to  meet  us.  Among 
these  was  Lubin,  whom  I  had  never  heard  of  before.  But 
during  my  conversation  with  him,  I  was  at  once  impressed 
by  him.  He  was  a  man  of  medium  size,  well  built  and  with 
a  remarkable  head.  He  seemed  to  say  things  of  special 
pertinence  to  me,  and  I  found  myself  listening  to  his  remarks 
when  they  casually  emerged  above  the  general  hum. 

When  the  dinner  broke  up  I  asked  my  friends  to  tell  me 
all  they  could  about  Mr.  Lubin  and  his  ideals,  and  I  heard 
that  he  had  just  had  an  interview  with  the  King,  who  had 
promised  to  back  up  Lubin's  undertaking.  No  wonder 
that  he  was  overjoyed  by  the  certainty  that  his  project  was 
at  last  to  be  given  an  open  free  trial.  "King  Victor  Em- 
manuel", he  said  to  me  later,  "was  the  fifteenth  crowned 
head,  or  ruler  of  a  government,  to  whom  I  explained  my 
project :  and  he  was  the  first  to  see  its  purport.  He  is  an 
idealist,  a  believing  idealist,  and  this  gave  me  a  double  satis- 
faction when  he  saw  that  my  plan  was  good.'* 

Lubin  was  a  very  busy  man,  but  I  met  him  soon  again, 
and  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  see  him  several  times  during 
our  stay  in  Rome.  I  recall  especially  one  evening  when  he 
invited  me  to  dine  with  him  at  his  trattoria,  which  seemed 
to  be  connected  with  the  old-fashioned  hotel  at  Capo  le 
Case,  where  he  had  rooms.  We  sat  at  a  little  round  table, 
and  the  waiter  brought  us  our  food,  course  by  course,  and 
weighed  the  fiasco  of  wine  at  the  end,  as  if  we  were  two  well- 
recognized  frequenters  of  the  place  —  as  Lubin  was. 


vi        A  RECOLLECTION  OF  DAVID  LUBIN 

I  found  it  very  easy  to  talk  with  him.  I  asked  a  few  details 
about  his  great  project,  and  he  replied  copiously,  minutely, 
nor  have  I  forgotten  the  infection  (if  I  may  use  the  word) 
of  his  language.  Afterwards  when  I  tried  to  remember 
what  he  said,  I  realized  that  not  merely  the  words  them- 
selves, but  the  tone  of  his  voice  and  the  emphasis  combined 
to  produce  the  total  impression.  All  the  other  diners  had 
finished  and  gone,  before  we  bade  each  other  good  night, 
and  I  walked  up  the  hill  to  my  hotel,  feeling  strangely  ex- 
hilarated, and  fully  persuaded  that  I  had  been  listening 
for  two  hours  to  a  Minor  Hebrew  Prophet. 

Lubin  had  the  great  gift  of  simplification.  Political 
Economy,  which  was  the  basis  of  his  argument,  became 
suddenly  the  most  real  and  living  of  subjects,  and  you  saw 
at  a  glance  the  moral  aspect  of  each  situation.  The  bushels 
of  com,  the  quintals  of  vegetables,  the  gallons  of  wine,  or 
oil,  which  he  registered  and  discussed,  ceased  to  be  material, 
dead  things  and  stood  out  as  vital  human  parts  of  the  life 
of  the  people  on  a  lower  plane.  It  was  because  he  saw  the 
moral  foundation  of  life  that  he  foresaw  the  inestimable 
benefit  that  might  come  to  mankind  from  his  Agricultural 
Institute. 

Many  years  later  I  saw  that  Lubin  was  to  lecture  before 
a  students'  club  at  Harvard,  and  I  went  down  to  hear  him. 
He  was  much  older  —  nearly  seventy,  if  I  remember  the 
date  aright  —  and  much  hampered  by  heart  disease.  But 
he  spoke  with  his  old-time  urgency  and  clearness.  I  felt 
that  the  young  men,  who  listened  to  him,  did  not  quite 
understand  him.  Perhaps  there  were  too  few  Victor  Em- 
manuels among  them.  Perhaps  it  will  require  another 
half  century  to  raise  up  the  Idealists  for  whom  he  looked. 

Are  we  not  all  indebted  to  Signora  Agresti  for  writing 
this  life  of  David  Lubin,  thereby  enabling  us  to  know  one 
of  the  distinctive  great  men  of  his  age  —  one  of  the  Light- 
Bringers  ? 

William  Roscoe  Thayer 

August  20,  1922. 


CONTENTS 

FAOB 

A  Recollection  of  David  Litbin v 

CHAPTER 

I    The  Motive 1 

n    From  Infancy  to  Manhood IS 

in    Pioneer  Years  in  California  :  The  Upbuilding  of  a 

Business 88 

rV    A  Journey  to  Palestine 63 

V    First  Public  Activities 81 

VI    LuBiN  THE  Sacramentan 95 

Vn    Transportation  and  Tariff Ill 

Vni    The  Horizon  Widens 131 

IX    "Let  There  Be  Light" 148 

X    A  Missionary  m  Rome 165 

XI    The  RoiLWfCE  of  an  Idea 185 

Xn    The  International  Institute  of  Agriculture    .        .  206 

Xm    David  Lubin  the  Propagandist 217 

XrV    The  Master  Builder 232 

XV    Russia  —  The  Balkans  —  Peace 249 

XVI    Ten  Years  of  Work  for  America        ....  267 

XVII    David  Lubin  the  Internationalist       ....  290 

XVni    David  Lubin  as  Educator 805 

XIX    The  Great  War  and  the  Great  Peace        .        .        .  324 

XX    Salve  atque  Vale 349 

Index 353 


DAVID    LUBIN 

A  STUDY  IN  PRACTICAL  IDEALISM 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  MOTIVE 

**.  .  .  I  think  that  you  follow  me.  But,  human-like, 
you  want  to  know  my  motive  before  you  can  trust  me. 
Well,  my  motive  is  not  salary,  not  a  medal,  nor  social  scin- 
tillations, nor  is  it  to  be  a  Count  of  Sacramento.  I  wish  to 
serve  the  dear  old  Uncle,  Uncle  Samuel,  and  you  laugh ! 
But  how  many  better  men  have  given  their  lives  for  the 
Uncle.  But  there  is  a  higher  service  still,  and  that  is  for 
the  United  States  of  the  World.  And  I  am  happy  to  be  an 
humble  soldier,  a  private,  in  this  Army.  Do  you  under- 
stand ?  And  when  one  is  such  in  dead  earnest,  the  Almighty 
does  not  mind  that  he  is  an  ordinary  scrub  and  no  educated 
diplomat.  That  same  Almighty  makes  him  a  'persona  gra- 
tissima  just  everywhere;  because  this  is  His  great  fun  in 
His  Divine  Comedy.  And  that  is  the  reason  that  He  took 
common  scrubs  for  His  prophets  and  His  great  workers,  and 
'who  shall  say  Him  nay  ?  '  ..." 

Thus  wrote  David  Lubin  in  September,  1908,  in  a  letter  in 
which  he  tried  to  interest  Mr.  GifiFord  Pinchot,  then  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Roosevelt  Administration,  in  the  International 
Institute  of  Agriculture.  And  in  this  quotation  we  get  the 
key  to  the  master  passion  of  his  life,  the  passion  for  Service ; 


2  DAVID  LUBIN 

not  service  for  one  class  or  for  one  nation,  but  for  the  realiza- 
tion on  earth  of  that  high  ideal  of  equity  and  justice  which 
he  believed  would  ultimately  result  in  the  Commonwealth 
of  Nations,  the  United  States  of  the  World. 

It  seems  a  long  cry  from  these  lofty  ideals  to  the  practical 
and  prosaic  work  of  international  crop-reporting  and  co- 
operative systems  of  rural  credit,  the  stability  of  ocean 
freight  rates  and  systems  for  promoting  direct  marketing, 
which  were  some  of  the  concrete  forms  in  which  David 
Lubin's  labors  crystallized  and  found  expression  through 
the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture  in  Rome  with 
which  his  name  will  ever  be  associated.  But  disconcerting 
as  such  juxtaposition  sounds  at  first,  the  chain  of  cause  and 
effect,  as  it  worked  out  in  his  logical  brain,  is  a  sound  one. 

David  Lubin's  mind  was  characterized  by  a  deep  rever- 
ence for  the  universal  ideal  embodied  in  the  word  "Right- 
eousness ",  together  with  a  singular  faculty  for  translating 
promptly  such  abstract  conceptions  into  terms  of  the  con- 
crete. This  faculty  made  him  see  that  the  first  essential 
step  toward  realizing  ideal  righteousness  on  earth  is  to  se- 
cure justice  between  men  in  their  economic  relations.  And 
here  again  the  means  that  occurred  to  him  for  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  desired  aim  were  positive  and  practical.  He  did 
not  conceive  of  the  advent  of  this  justice  in  apocalyptic 
terms  of  revolutionary  destruction,  but  as  the  outcome  of 
a  slow  process  of  constructive  organization  which,  while 
leaving  the  social  structure  intact  as  a  whole,  would  grad- 
ually rebuild  it,  a  bit  at  a  time,  until  the  whole  edifice  would 
be  renewed  in  such  wise  as  to  allow  of  a  greater  and  ever 
increasing  degree  of  equity  in  human  relationships,  and 
first  of  all  of  equity  in  exchange. 

Nor  did  he  look  upon  this  equity  in  exchange  as  a  purely 
economic  question ;  he  considered  it  an  essential  condition 
to  insure  the  life  of  Democracy.  While  the  flag,  he  would 
say,  is  the  symbol  of  ideal  liberty,  the  dollar,  in  everyday 
life,  is  the  symbol  of  practical  liberty,  for  does  it  not  entitle 
its  owner  to  the  enjoyment  of  a  dollar's  worth  of  commodi- 


THE  MOTIVE  8 

ties,  of  education,  of  leisure,  or  of  recreation  ?  It  is  the 
measuring  rod  of  opportunity;  therefore,  whatever  or 
whoever  unduly  curtails  the  producer's  share  in  the  dollar 
or  its  purchasing  power,  curtails  his  rights,  limits  his  liberty, 
commits  a  sin  against  democracy. 

Reasoning  along  these  lines,  Lubin's  life-work  gradually 
evolved  with  his  own  evolution.  He  was  a  practical  ideal- 
ist, and  his  whole  life  was  spent  in  the  tenacious  effort  to 
realize  this  same  ideal  of  economic  justice.  But  Lubin  was 
not  only  an  idealist,  he  was  also  an  original  thinker,  an  ini- 
tiator, a  pioneer,  and  step  by  step  he  worked  onward  and 
upward  through  a  series  of  coordinated  efforts,  —  all  links 
in  the  chain  of  the  same  endeavor. 

The  first  stage  of  his  life-work,  the  stage  on  which  he  en- 
tered as  soon  as  he  had  mastered  the  fundamentals  of  his 
conception  of  justice,  was  local.  The  town  in  which  he 
settled,  the  community  among  which  he  lived,  was  suffering 
from  the  evils  consequent  on  a  vicious  trading  system.  He 
would  right  it.  His  lifelong  fight  for  "the  just  weight  and 
the  just  measure"  began  there.  In  his  own  insignificant, 
small  store  he  became  a  pioneer  in  introducing  the  system 
of  sales  at  fixed  prices  allowing  for  a  minimum  margin  of 
profit.  He  made  a  bold,  aggressive  fight  among  a  Western 
mining  community ;  at  first  he  was  laughed  at,  then  he 
was  abused,  then  he  won  out,  and  in  a  remarkably  short 
time  too. 

But  what  was  good  for  his  home  town  would  surely  be 
good  for  the  State,  and  he  became  a  pioneer  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  mail-order  business  conducted  on  the  same  lines  of 
scrupulous  justice,  and  in  a  few  more  years  he  was  at  the 
head  of  the  first  and  largest  mail-order  business  on  the 
Pacific  coast. 

As  his  experience  grew  his  ideas  expanded  to  keep  pace 
with  it.  He  perceived  that  the  prosperity  of  the  laboring 
and  commercial  communities  of  the  towns  was  largely  de- 
pendent on  the  prosperity  of  the  farming  communities  of 
the  country,  and  he  perceived  the  important  bearing  that 


4  DAVID  LUBIN 

equity  in  carriage  had  on  both.  He  became  a  pioneer  in 
the  fight  for  equalizing  and  reducing  railway  rates. 

Then  he  went  a  step  farther.  What  was  good  for  a  com- 
mercial business  should  be  good  for  an  agricultural  business ; 
he  went  into  farming  and  was  a  pioneer  in  the  application 
of  sound  business  principles  to  a  fruit  ranch. 

This  brought  him  up  against  the  question  of  the  economic 
marketing  of  fruits,  and  here  again  he  pioneered  the  way 
for  the  subsequent  achievement  of  the  California  Fruit 
Growers'  Exchange. 

Studying  the  problem  of  marketing  led  him  to  advance 
as  a  "Novel  Proposition"  —  which  it  then  was  —  a  system 
evolved  from  his  own  experience  along  lines  at  that  time 
quite  unknown  in  America  though  already,  had  he  known  it, 
familiar  in  Europe.  He  was  the  first  to  advocate  the  intro- 
duction of  a  parcel-post  system  in  the  United  States,  a 
system  which  he  conceived  of  as  organized  to  serve  the 
farmer  as  well  as  the  merchant. 

As  Lubin  went  along,  ever  faithful  to  the  original  principle 
of  economic  justice  which  was  his  lodestar,  the  horizon  grew 
ever  wider.  From  local  his  work  had,  in  a  few  years,  become 
State  wide ;  it  was  now  to  become  national  in  scope.  Study- 
ing conditions  as  viewed  both  from  his  store  and  from  his 
farm,  he  became  convinced  that  the  farmers  were  suffering 
from  the  effects  of  a  fundamental  economic  inequity,  and  he 
took  up  the  fight  to  secure  for  them  fair  treatment  in  the 
matter  of  the  tariff.  He  argued  that  under  then  existing 
conditions  agriculture  bore  the  cost  of  protection  in  America, 
and  that  if  industries  were  protected  by  a  tariff  on  imports 
of  manufactured  goods,  justice  required  that  the  staples  of 
the  farm  should  likewise  be  protected  by  a  bounty  on  exports. 

But  even  while  engaged  in  this  fight,  which  brought  him 
into  touch  with  economic  and  political  forces  all  over  the 
country,  the  truth  forced  itself  on  him  that  economic  justice 
must  have  a  broader  basis  than  the  nation.  He  realized, 
to  use  his  own  expression,  that  it  was  like  ladling  the  water 
out  of  a  leaking  boat  to  labor  to  correct  economic  injustice 


THE  MOTIVE  5 

to  agriculture  by  national  measures  so  long  as  the  prices 
of  the  staples  were  governed  by  international  conditions, 
and  so  long  as  these  were  such  as  to  place  a  premium  on 
manipulation  and  speculation.  Once  fully  convinced  of 
this,  David  Lubin  became  a  pioneer  in  the  field  of  inter- 
national cooperation  toward  the  attainment  of  the  end  he 
had  in  view. 

Working  always  on  concrete,  practical  lines,  seeing  in 
them  alone  the  means  to  materialize  the  idealistic  principles 
which  were  the  bull's-eye  at  which  all  his  efforts  were  aimed, 
Lubin  reasoned  that  agriculture  is  the  foundation  industry 
in  a  nation's  economy,  —  for  are  not  the  staples  of  the  farm 
the  food  and  clothing  of  the  people  of  the  world;  and  do 
they  not  supply,  to  a  very  considerable  extent,  the  raw 
material  of  the  factories  ?  At  the  same  time,  the  prosperity 
of  the  cities  is  largely  conditioned  by  the  prosperity 
of  the  countryside  and  by  the  consequent  purchasing 
power  of  the  country  population.  It  therefore  follows 
that  an  essential  step  toward  realizing  righteousness  in 
the  relations  between  man  and  man  is  to  insure  equity  in 
the  formation  of  the  prices  of  the  staples  of  agriculture. 
Now,  for  this  purpose  international  concerted  action  is 
essential,  for  the  price  of  the  staples  is  a  world  price  deter- 
mined by  world  conditions.  Therefore  there  must  be  a 
world  organization  of  the  agricultural  interests,  as  well  as 
of  the  interests  of  commerce,  finance,  and  labor,  which  have 
already  organized  both  nationally  and  internationally.  He 
thus  became  a  pioneer  for  the  foundation  of  a  world  chamber 
of  agriculture,  a  League  of  Nations  for  economic  justice. 

In  this  fight  for  economic  justice  Lubin  saw  no  mere 
question  of  dollars  and  cents ;  no  mere  class  legislation  for 
the  benefit  of  farmers.  It  appealed  to  him  as  an  essential 
concomitant  to  the  realization  of  Righteousness,  and,  there- 
fore, as  a  fundamental  condition  for  insuring  an  enduring 
world  peace.  Referring  to  the  erection  of  the  Peace  Palace 
at  the  Hague,  on  which  the  thoughts  of  most  international 
workers  were  then  centered,  he  wrote : 


6  DAVID  LUBIN 

"It  is  not  Carnegie's  millions,  nor  millions  added  to  those 
millions  that  can  kill  war  and  bring  peace.  It  is  the  *just 
weight'  and  the  'just  measure'  which  is  the  flaming,  flashing 
sword  of  God  that  shall  kill  war;  and  nothing  else  can, 
nothing  else  will,  nothing  else  shall." 

These  words,  which  occur  in  a  letter  written  in  1910  to 
the  editor  of  the  American  Agriculturist  show  another  phase 
of  the  motive,  a  phase  that  he  never  tired  of  urging  on  his 
friends  in  the  American  peace  movement. 

While  he  firmly  believed  in  the  fundamental  importance 
of  agriculture,  Lubin  was  no  sentimentalist,  no  advocate 
of  the  "simple  life",  no  mere  "back  to  the  land"  man.  He 
never  idealized  the  farmer.  He  would  insist  on  the  fact  that 
he  had  no  more  use  for  a  farmer  as  such  than  he  had  for  a 
shoemaker  or  a  storekeeper,  and  he  loved  to  emphasize 
this  point  and  to  thrust  it  down  the  throats  of  his  audience, 
especially  if  it  were  an  audience  of  farmers.  He  never 
"played  to  the  gallery."  Adulation  of  the  farmer,  he  used 
to  say,  was  claptrap,  only  good  at  election  times  when  his 
vote  is  at  a  premium,  and  candidates  for  office  shake  his 
hand  and  refer  to  him  as  the  "horny-handed  son  of  toil" 
and  "Nature's  nobleman."  "Nature's  nobleman  !"  Lubin 
would  exclaim  impatiently.  "Rather  would  I  call  him 
Nature's  ass !  Villain,  heathen,  pagan  are  the  names  which 
have  been  bestowed  on  the  farmers  down  the  ages,  for  they 
have  always  been  the  last  to  change  their  language,  their 
costume,  their  religion.  But  for  this  very  reason  the 
farmer  is  Nature's  Conservative,  and  therein  lies  his  great 
social  value,  for  he  is  the  surest  bulwark  of  a  democracy 
against  the  too  rapidly  progressive  forces  of  the  city." 

Lubin  read  into  history  the  lesson  that  in  all  ages  and  in 
all  civilizations,  as  the  small,  independent,  land-owning 
farmers  of  a  community  succumb  before  the  keener  wits  and 
combined  energy  and  capital  of  the  city  men  of  commerce 
and  finance,  popular  government,  democracy,  succumbs  with 
them.  He  believed  that  in  this  matter  history  was  repeating 
itself,  that  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  witnessing 


THE  MOTIVE  7 

a  dangerous  concentration  of  economic  and  political  power 
in  the  hands  of  commerce,  finance,  and  town  labor,  and 
that  this  concentration  was  bringing  its  weight  to  bear 
steadily  on  the  point  of  least  resistance,  agriculture.  In 
this  steady  pressure  of  the  economic  forces  of  the  town  on 
the  farm  he  saw  a  world  danger,  and  the  census  returns 
for  the  United  States,  indicating  the  steady  decline  in  the 
number  of  small  land-owning  farmers  as  compared  to  renters 
convinced  him  that  this  tendency  was  endangering  the  very 
life  of  that  great  experiment  in  democracy,  America. 

"It  is  idle  to  talk  of  Monroe  doctrines,  of  navies,  of  forti- 
fications, and  of  other  devices  for  strengthening  the  nation 
just  so  long  as  the  trusts  crawl  up  on  the  efficiency  platform. 
Just  let  the  trusts  get  the  death-grip  on  the  American  farmer 
in  earnest,  that  death-grip  which  they  will  surely  attain  if 
not  effectively  prevented,  and  all  props  for  strengthening 
the  nation  will  prove  broken  reeds  to  lean  upon." 

In  the  letter  to  Governor  Sulzer  of  New  York  from  which 
the  above  quotation  is  taken,  it  is  the  American  farmer 
on  whom  the  emphasis  is  laid,  but  in  his  thought  and  work 
Lubin  always  generalized,  and  the  need  for  the  protection 
of  the  farmer  the  world  over,  as  an  essential  factor  in  build- 
ing up  universal  democracy,  was  an  important  phase  of 
the  motive. 

And  there  was  yet  another  phase.  It  was  no  mere  form 
of  speech  when  he  said  in  the  letter  first  quoted  from  that 
no  desire  for  personal  advancement  influenced  his  actions. 
Before  undertaking  public  work  Lubin  had  acquired  financial 
independence,  and  the  further  accumulation  of  wealth  had 
no  attractions  for  him.  For  social  distinctions  he  cared 
less  than  nothing ;  he  was  a  man  of  the  people  and  such  he 
remained  to  the  end.  "Nor  do  I  care  a  hang  to  meet  and 
shake  hands  with  the  European  lords  or  counts.  In  fact, 
I  prefer  our  ordinary  friends  of  Hangtown  Crossing  or 
Dutch  Flat  or  Fiddler's  Gulch  of  good  old  California,"  is 
a  phrase  which  occurs  in  a  letter  to  his  friend  and  co-worker. 
Senator  Duncan  U.  Fletcher.    Political  position  or  power 


8  DAVID  LUBIN 

he  never  sought  and  certainly  he  never  went  about  the  right 
way  to  acquire  them,  for  he  would  be  almost  brutal  in  his 
frankness  to  the  "powers  that  be."  What  he  cared  for  was 
the  work  in  itself,  and  the  only  satisfaction  he  sought  was 
the  knowledge  of  service  rendered.  Yet,  deep  down  in  his 
heart,  there  was  a  personal  motive ;  one  which  he  never 
allowed  to  get  an  undue  hold  of  him,  but  which  undoubtedly 
fed  fuel  to  the  fire  of  the  untiring  energy  which  urged  him 
on  through  ill-health,  difficulties,  disappointments,  enabling 
him  to  work  unceasingly,  turning  neither  to  the  right  nor 
to  the  left,  and  devoting  the  minutest  care  to  the  details 
as  well  as  to  the  main  outline  of  his  work  for  international 
justice.  This  motive  may  be  described  as  the  longing  for 
a  noble  revenge. 

David  Lubin  belonged  to  that  great  paradox  of  history, 
the  Jewish  people,  the  only  people  of  antiquity  which  still 
survives  in  our  midst  with  its  religion  and  customs  well- 
nigh  intact;  the  people  whose  sacred  books  have  been 
adopted  by  the  two  great  branches  of  religion,  Christianity 
and  Mohammedanism,  as  the  revealed  Word  of  God ;  the 
people  who,  according  to  both  Jewish  and  Christian  belief, 
were  told  "Go  forth  and  be  a  blessing  to  the  nations",  and 
"in  thee  shall  all  the  people  of  the  earth  be  blessed";  yet 
in  many  countries  these  same  people  are  still  forced  to  live 
as  social  outcasts,  while  in  others  "toleration"  is  the  most 
generous  word  used  in  their  regard. 

Lubin  had  pondered  long  and  deeply  on  the  history  of 
his  people,  but  the  grievous  record  of  blood  and  tears,  of 
suffering,  injustice,  indignity  and  humiliation  had  bred  no 
lasting  bitterness  or  hatred  in  his  generous  heart.  He  was 
broad-minded  enough,  human  enough,  to  understand  preju- 
dice and  to  allow  for  ignorance.  But  he  was  fired  with 
the  desire  "to  return  for  every  blow  a  benefit,  for  every  curse 
a  blessing",  and  this  was  also  a  phase  of  the  motive. 

This  desire,  or,  rather,  this  instinct,  had  grown  within 
him  from  childhood  upwards;  gradually  clarifying  and 
crystallizing,  gaining  in  clearness  and  directness  of  purpose 


THE  MOTIVE  9 

as  experience  and  knowledge  grew.  It  was  this  desire,  dimly 
apprehended,  which  inspired  the  dreams  of  his  wayward 
childhood  as  a  poor  immigrant  boy  in  the  "east  side"  of 
New  York  City ;  which  lent  dignity  of  aim  and  moral  purpose 
to  his  eariy  struggles  in  California ;  which  grew  and  gained 
in  intensity  as  he  pored  over  his  favorite  books,  the  Bible, 
Plato's  Dialogues,  Cicero's  Disputations,  Herbert  Spencer, 
John  Stuart  Mill,  Maimonides,  Matthew  Arnold;  until, 
at  last,  the  vision  stood  out  in  clear  relief,  and  he  saw  his 
work  laid  out  before  him. 

A  long  period  of  evolutionary  development  followed, 
which  led  him  stage  by  stage  to  the  final  conception.  Sacra- 
mento, California,  America,  the  World,  were  the  progressive 
phases  of  his  outlook.  "Generalize  an  advantage,  and  you 
transmute  it  into  an  equity ;  mere  economics  have  become 
ethical  economics,"  he  was  wont  to  say.  Thus  he  realized 
in  the  last  phase  of  his  life-work,  the  international  phase, 
that  union  of  the  concrete  and  the  practical  with  the  abstract 
and  the  ideal,  that  merging  of  the  particular  in  the  universal, 
toward  which  in  thought  and  action  he  had  groped  ever  since 
he  started  on  his  career  as  a  reformer  in  a  twelve-by-ten-foot 
store  in  Sacramento,  until  in  1904  he  found  himself  in  Rome, 
a  missionary  —  vox  clamantis  in  deserto  —  preaching  the 
gospel  of  international  organization  and  pointing,  as  an 
ultimate,  to  the  Commonwealth  of  Nations. 

It  was  thus  that  an  idea  and  the  realization  of  a  great 
racial  heredity  transformed  the  rough,  willful  boy,  the  passion- 
ate, energetic,  successful  business  man,  into  a  dreamer  and 
a  prophet.  A  dreamer  whose  head  was  in  the  clouds  but 
whose  feet  were  firmly  planted  on  solid  earth;  a  prophet 
who  could  put  his  arguments  in  such  shape  as  to  win  the 
approval  of  hard-headed  business  men  or  keen-witted 
scientific  economists.  And  when,  in  the  fullness  of  time, 
his  self-imposed  service  led  him  to  Rome,  he  came  equipped 
with  practical  experience  of  men  and  affairs,  psychologic 
insight  acquired  as  an  employer  of  labor,  and  dignity  of 
purpose,   combined   with  genuine  modesty.     He  felt  that 


10  DAVID  LUBIN 

he  was,  as  he  phrased  it,  "just  an  ordinary  scrub",  a  humble 
instrument  in  the  working  out  of  a  great  purpose;  and  he 
insisted  that  credit  for  the  work  was  due  to  the  heroic 
prophets  and  thinkers  who  had  preceded  him,  to  the  mar- 
tyrs and  confessors  of  a  great  idea,  and  not  to  the  man, 
David  Lubin,  who  was  striving  to  serve  toward  the  realiza- 
tion of  that  idea. 

This  combination  of  good,  sound,  "horse  sense"  and 
inflexible  conviction  with  personal  modesty  made  him  per- 
fectly willing,  nay  anxious,  to  remain  in  the  background 
while  attributing  a  generous  meed  of  recognition  to  the 
efforts  of  his  co-workers ;  and  this  won  for  him  the  regard 
and  affection  of  those  before  whom  he  placed  his  ideas. 
It  made  success  possible.  His  passionate  desire  to  serve, 
his  singleness  of  purpose,  and  his  belief  in  a  mission  to  be 
performed  made  of  this  rough  Westerner  a  statesman  and  a 
diplomat  who  could,  on  occasion,  match  his  wits  successfully 
with  some  of  the  keenest  in  Europe.  This  it  was  which 
enabled  an  unknown  American  to  win  for  his  proposal  the 
support  of  the  Chief  Executive  of  a  great  nation,  and  actually 
to  bring  into  being,  some  sixteen  years  ago,  the  first  real 
League  of  Nations,  so  much  in  advance  of  its  time  that  the 
world  at  large  looked  askance  and  would  only  give  it  grudg- 
ing acknowledgment. 

It  will  be  the  endeavor  of  this  biography,  while  narrating 
the  events  of  a  remarkable  life,  to  show  the  interplay  of 
race  and  nationality,  of  Polish  ghetto  and  American  democ- 
racy, in  shaping  the  character  of  this  man,  who,  as  time 
goes  by,  will  come  to  be  recognized  more  and  more  as  a  lead- 
ing pioneer  in  blazing  the  trail  for  the  advent  of  the  inter- 
national phase  in  the  world's  history,  a  phase  on  which  we 
are  now  entering. 

Had  David  Lubin  grown  up  within  the  pale  of  settlement 
in  Russian  Poland,  where  he  was  born,  he  might  have  been  a 
dreamer,  more  probably  a  revolutionist,  but  he  would  have 
been  foredoomed  to  failure.  The  environment  woxild  have 
stifled  him. 


THE  MOTIVE  11 

As  it  was,  the  "conserved  energy",  as  he  used  to  phrase  it, 
which  had  come  down  to  him  as  a  racial  inheritance  through 
the  centuries  of  oppression  to  which  his  people  had  been 
subjected,  found  on  American  soil,  and  under  the  stimulating 
care  of  American  institutions,  the  opportunity  to  expand 
and  develop  to  its  full.  The  hard  schooling  of  poverty  and 
work,  the  rough  and  tumble,  the  give  and  take  of  pioneer 
life  in  Arizona  and  California,  followed  by  the  discipline  and 
experience  of  business  training,  developed  the  adventure- 
some, imaginative,  hot-tempered,  impulsive  boy  into  a  man 
of  purpose  and  tenacity.  His  native  capacity  for  generaliza- 
tion and  synthesis,  working  on  the  actual  facts  of  economic 
life,  made  him  an  economist  of  no  mean  order,  and  when  he 
felt  that  the  time  for  action  had  come  he  did  not  wait  for  the 
opportunity  to  offer,  but  he  himself  created  the  opportunity 
for  rendering  the  service  he  had  elected  himself  to  perform. 

Writing  in  the  last  months  of  his  life  to  Mr.  Israel  Zang- 
will  with  reference  to  a  proposed  biographical  essay,  Lubin 
says: 

**It  should  deal  (a)  with  the  genesis  of  the  central  theme, 
a  'call  to  service',  starting  from  an  incident  which  occurred 
when  I  was  four  days  old,  and  its  development  under  mater- 
nal and  Jewish  influences  in  the  New  York  environment; 
(6)  its  further  development  under  Christian  influences  in 
New  England  until  I  was  sixteen  years  of  age ;  (c)  the  next 
stage,  three  years  in  the  wilds  and  deserts  of  Arizona  until 
nineteen  years  of  age ;  (d)  then  the  Calif ornian  experience, 
the  entrance  into  commercial  life,  its  shaping,  and  the 
influences  of  this  central  theme;  a  journey  to  the  Holy 
Land  and  its  influences  and  the  purpose  for  which  I  took 
up  the  occupation  of  agriculture  (horticulture  and  cereals) 
all  actuated  by  this  central  theme,  this  'call  to  service.* 
Next  comes  the  entry  into  the  actual  field  of  service,  first  in 
the  state,  second  in  the  nation,  third  in  the  international 
field,  culminating  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  International 
Institute  of  Agriculture,  to  which  fifty-seven  nations  now 
adhere  under  treaty." 


12  DAVID   LUBIN 

It  is  the  story  of  this  evolution,  made  possible  by  the 
vivifying  atmosphere  of  American  democracy,  which  I 
shall  attempt  to  tell  in  the  following  pages,  and  to  tell,  so 
far  as  possible,  by  quoting  David  Lubin's  own  words  and 
writings.  The  story  is  an  inspiring  one,  for  it  shows  what 
can  be  achieved  by  a  forceful  individuality,  starting  from  a 
sound  premise,  sustained  by  stalwart  faith,  and  impelled  by 
a  noble  and  disinterested  motive. 


CHAPTER  II 


FROM    INFANCY   TO   MANHOOD 


There  is  little  record  left  of  the  early  years  of  David  Lubin. 
He  came  of  humble  folk  and  grew  up  in  humble  surroundings, 
and  what  glimpses  of  his  childhood  and  youth  can  be  snatched 
from  the  night  of  oblivion  are  rather  in  the  nature  of  flash- 
light pictures  than  of  an  accurate  chronicle  of  events.  If 
questioned  as  to  his  own  history  he  would  —  impatiently 
or  jokingly  as  his  mood  might  be  —  put  off  inquiries  by  say- 
ing that  he  was  not  going  to  tell  when  he  ate  his  first  pap  or 
when  he  first  sat  up  in  a  high  chair;  or  he  would  brush 
personalities  aside,  saying  that  it  was  not  he  but  the  work 
which  was  of  interest,  and  would  launch  forth  into  a  dis- 
quisition on  the  principles  underlying  the  International 
Institute  of  Agriculture  or  any  other  phase  of  the  work 
on  which  he  was  engaged.  At  times,  however,  he  would 
become  reminiscent  and  tell  incidents  or  anecdotes  of  his 
early  years.  With  these,  and  a  few  particulars  supplied  by 
members  of  the  family,  it  is  possible  to  reconstruct  the 
environment  and  to  get  a  fair  idea  of  the  influences  under 
which  he  grew  up. 

David  Lubin  was  bom  in  a  Jewish  community  in  a  little 
town  in  Russian  Poland.  In  her  book,  "The  Promised 
Land",  Mary  Antin  has  given  a  striking  picture  of  life 
within  the  Jewish  pale  as  it  was  lived  in  Russia  up  to  the 
time  of  the  revolution.  Excluded  from  the  land,  excluded 
from  the  professions,  excluded  from  most  trades,  excluded 
from  educational  opportunities,  the  Jews  lived  in  great 
poverty,  crowded  into  certain  areas,  restricted  practically 
to  a  few  occupations.  They  were  tailors,  seamstresses, 
jewelers,  goldsmiths,  small  traders,  peddlers.  Living 
amidst    hostile    surroundings,    in    constant  fear    of    vio- 


14  DAVID  LUBIN 

lence,  shunned  by  neighbors  who,  for  the  most  part, 
were  inferior  to  them  in  brains  and  education,  the  Jews 
were  driven  to  rely  solely  on  their  own  resources.  Their 
position  under  the  Russian  autocracy  was  practically  that 
of  outlaws,  whose  presence  was  tolerated  in  certain  pre- 
scribed localities.  They  were  excluded  from  the  rights  and 
privileges  but  not  from  the  duties  of  Russian  subjects ; 
they  had  to  pay  taxes  and  to  serve  as  privates  in  the  army. 
Otherwise,  subject  to  brutal  outbreaks  of  mob  violence, 
fostered  frequently  by  the  authorities,  they  were  left  very 
much  to  their  own  devices,  and  within  its  prescribed  limits 
the  ghetto  enjoyed  a  large  measure  of  autonomy.  Within 
itself  the  community  was  self-governing  and  developed 
along  its  own  traditional  and  cultural  lines.  In  all  matters 
of  daily  life  the  Judaic  law  was  observed.  Marriage  and 
divorce,  contracts  among  themselves,  education,  religious 
observances,  were  regulated  by  the  Rav  and  the  Dayun.^ 
Points  of  ritual  were  referred  to  the  former  while  the  latter 
heard  disputes  and  quarrels  among  members  of  the  com- 
munity and  settled  them  according  to  the  Law.  The 
spiritual  and  intellectual  life  of  the  people  centered  around 
the  synagogue  and  the  heder.^  Driven  in  upon  themselves 
— poor,  despised,  humiliated — the  spiritual  life  of  the  Jews 
became  more  intense,  while  the  lack  of  all  opportunity  forced 
them  to  devote  their  keen  intellectual  faculties  almost 
exclusively  to  subtle  metaphysical  disquisitions  and  hair- 
splitting debates  on  the  interpretation  of  texts  or  points 
in  the  Scriptures  or  the  Talmud. 

Yet  with  all  its  limitations  and  sufferings,  Lubin  used 
to  say  that  the  atmosphere  of  the  Russian  ghetto  was  less 
deadening  in  its  effects  than  the  brutalizing  influences  which 
so  often  make  of  the  Jew  in  other  countries  a  rank  materialist 
and  Mammon  worshiper.  Within  the  pale  the  Jew  clung 
to  his  religious  theme ;  he  knew  it  was  for  that  theme  that 
he  suffered  ostracism,  and  he  was  proud  of  it.  The  social 
atmosphere  was  essentially  democratic;   all  were  members 

*  A  rabbi  who  renders  decisions.  '  Hebrew  School. 


FROM  INFANCY  TO  MANHOOD  15 

of  the  House  of  Israel,  and  as  such  felt  themselves  superior 
to  the  outside  world,  however  much  they  might  have  to 
yield  it  lip-reverence.  The  special  garb  imposed  on  them  as  a 
humiliation  became  in  their  eyes  the  distinctive  mark  of  a 
superior  though  suffering  race.  There  were  degrees  of 
poverty,  and  comparative  wealth  was  sometimes  attained, 
but  in  the  ghetto  itself  learning  and  not  riches  was  the  path 
to  honor,  and  a  rich  man  would  select  as  husband  for  his 
daughter  the  penniless  scholar  learned  in  the  Law  and  the 
Talmud,  and  would  be  envied  for  his  luck  in  securing  such  a 
one  for  son-in-law.  Cut  off  from  opportunity  for  develop- 
ment in  other  directions,  the  Russian  and  Polish  Jew  turned 
to  religion  and  philosophy.  Racially  gifted  with  logical  and 
speculative  minds,  reasoning  on  abstractions  and  theories, 
they  easily  became,  when  they  outgrew  narrow  orthodoxy 
and  sectarianism,  the  doctrinaires  of  revolutionary  idealism, 
extreme  socialism,  agnosticism,  nihilism,  as  a  reaction  to 
soul-killing  ritualism  on  the  inside  and  social  ostracism  and 
political  oppression  on  the  outside. 

Into  such  surroundings  David  Lubin  was  bom  on  the  first 
of  June,  1849,  at  Klodowa,  a  few  miles  from  Cracow.  He 
came  of  strictly  orthodox  stock  and  was  the  last  of  six  chil- 
dren born  to  his  parents.  His  father's  name  is  lost  to 
memory ;  he  died,  when  David  was  still  a  mere  infant,  in  one 
of  the  cholera  epidemics  which  at  frequent  intervals  devastate 
the  unsanitary  towns  and  villages  of  Russia  and  Poland. 

When  the  child  was  four  days  old  his  mother,  Rachel, 
sat  up  in  bed  to  bless  the  Sabbath  candles.  As  she  did  so 
the  wick  of  one  flew  off  and  fell  on  the  cheek  of  the  infant 
who  nestled  by  her  side,  making  a  deep  burn  which  left 
its  scar  on  him  till  his  dying  day.  The  baby  wailed  with  pain 
and  the  distressed  mother  wept  bitterly.  Shortly  after- 
wards her  husband  came  home  from  the  synagogue  bringing 
with  him,  as  is  the  wont  with  the  orthodox,  a  poor  scholar, 
a  stranger  in  that  town,  to  share  with  the  family  the  Sabbath 
meal.  They  found  the  poor  woman  still  in  tears  and 
learned  from  her  what  had  happened,  but  instead  of  offering 


16  DAVID  LUBIN 

sympathy  the  learned  man  reproved  her,  reminding  her 
that  on  the  Sabbath  tears  are  unlawful,  that  even  if  her  son 
lay  dead  she  should  still  praise  the  Lord.  Moreover,  he 
said,  here  is  clear  cause  for  rejoicing,  not  for  weeping,  for 
is  it  not  a  sign  ?  Marked  by  the  Sabbath  candle,  the  child 
is  set  apart  by  the  Lord  for  His  service.  He  then  inquired 
what  name  was  to  be  given  to  the  boy,  and  was  told  that, 
according  to  custom,  he  would  be  given  his  grandfather's 
name,  Pinchus.  "No,"  said  the  Rabbi,  "this  child  shall  be 
named  David  the  King,  and  he  shall  grow  up  to  be  a  mighty 
man  in  Israel;  for  the  Lord  hath  dedicated  him  unto  His 
service." 

In  his  old  age  Lubin  would  occasionally  tell  this  tale  which 
he  had  learned  as  a  child  from  his  mother's  lips,  and  he  would 
say  that,  free  as  he  believed  himself  to  be  from  superstitious 
bias,  this  omen,  in  which  his  mother  firmly  believed,  had 
given  a  turn  to  his  whole  life. 

David  was  still  an  infant  when  his  mother,  who  had 
married  again,  decided  to  emigrate  with  her  second  husband, 
Soloman  Weinstock.  Religious  fanaticism,  spurred  on  by 
Russian  reaction,  made  life  intolerable  for  the  Jews  in 
Russian  Poland.  The  family  had  lived  through  the  horrors 
of  a  pogrom,  when  the  mother  had  crouched,  trembling  for 
her  babes,  in  a  cellar,  while  the  drunken,  infuriated  mob 
pillaged  and  killed,  and  the  experience  was  too  terrible  to 
risk  repetition. 

So  these  poor  people,  like  the  multitudes  of  their  co- 
religionists who  have  been  driven  to  seek  refuge  in  foreign 
lands,  sold  what  they  had  to  sell,  gathered  together  their 
few  poor  belongings,  and  with  the  three  surviving  children 
of  her  first  marriage  Mrs.  Weinstock  and  her  husband  left 
their  native  land. 

Their  first  stopping  place  was  in  England.  They  stayed 
in  London  for  some  two  years,  and  there  in  September,  1854, 
their  son,  Harris,  was  born,  who  was  to  become  the  business 
partner  and  lifelong  associate  in  public  work  of  his  half- 
brother,  David. 


FROM  INFANCY  TO  MANHOOD  17 

It  must  have  been  in  1855,  when  David  was  not  yet  six 
years  old,  that  his  parents  sailed  with  him  across  the  Atlantic 
and  landed  in  New  York,  in  those  days  a  very  different  place 
from  the  huge  city  of  skyscrapers  and  undigested  foreigners 
of  our  time.  Yet  it  was  even  then  the  largest  city  in  the 
United  States,  boasting  a  population  of  some  eight  hundred 
thousand,  with  a  large  Irish  and  a  not  inconsiderable  Jewish 
element  which  crowded  into  the  tenement  houses  of  the 
Bowery,  near  the  great  river  with  its  many  wharves  and 
crowded  shipping. 

The  great  ships,  still  largely  the  picturesque  sailing  vessels 
of  an  already  vanishing  age,  exercised  a  powerful  attraction 
on  the  imagination  of  the  little  boy  who  played  about  the 
streets  in  their  vicinity.  They  inspired  him  with  a  great 
fancy  for  the  sea,  fostered  by  tales  of  travel  and  adventure, 
of  pirates  and  tropical  countries,  in  which  he  reveled. 
On  more  than  one  occasion  he  tried  to  run  away  from  home, 
and  once  actually  got  taken  on  by  a  skipper  who  fitted  him 
out  with  a  full  set  of  *' slops"  in  which  he  gloried,  and  would 
have  taken  him  off  to  round  Cape  Horn  had  not  his  elder 
brother  Simon,  deputed  by  his  distracted  mother  to  find 
the  recreant  David  and  bring  him  home  at  all  costs,  spotted 
him  and  bribed  him  to  come  home  with  promises  of  a  free 
pardon  and  a  new  suit  of  clothes.  "It  was  providential 
for  me  that  this  was  the  case,"  Lubin  used  to  remark  in 
telling  me  of  this  adventure  of  his  boyhood  days,  "for  it 
turned  out  that  the  skipper  with  whom  I  was  going  had  the 
reputation  of  being  the  crudest  man  on  the  seas,  and  was 
afterwards  brought  to  trial  for  murdering  his  cabin  boy  in  a 
fit  of  rage  on  the  very  journey  on  which  I  was  to  have  gone." 

Love  of  adventure  was  a  marked  feature  in  David's 
character,  and  far  from  the  depressing  influences  of  his  native 
ghetto,  he  grew  up  a  bold,  fearless,  impulsive  boy,  full  of 
mischief,  fond  of  games  and  sports,  not  at  all  "bookish", 
yet  an  insatiable  reader  of  all  that  came  his  way  and  could 
fire  his  imagination  or  appeal  to  the  poetic,  idealistic  side 
of  his  nature.    He  used  to  love  to  watch  the  great  clouds 


18  DAVID  LUBIN 

every  few  minutes,  now  the  embattled  castles  and  forti- 
fications of  the  fairy  tales  of  which  he  was  so  fond,  now  rush- 
ing headlong  through  the  skies  like  great  monsters  pursuing 
one  another.  He  would  stand  spellbound  at  the  sight, 
humming  tunes  of  his  own  invention  which  seemed  to  him 
in  keeping  with  these  "huge  cloudy  symbols  of  a  high 
romance." 

But  to  understand  the  boy  and  the  influences  under  which 
he  developed  we  must  say  a  few  words  of  his  mother,  for 
more  than  by  any  other  factor,  the  character  and  mind  of 
David  Lubin  were  shaped  by  her. 

Family  tradition  has  it  that  Rachel  Weinstock  was  a 
resolute,  high-tempered,  energetic  woman,  deeply  religious, 
strictly  orthodox,  a  strong  believer  in  the  wisdom  of  the 
proverb  "Spare  the  rod  and  spoil  the  child."  She  was, 
from  all  accounts,  strictly  true  to  type,  steeped  in  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  environment  in  which  she  had  grown  up.  The 
words  in  which  Mary  Antin  describes  her  infancy  must  have 
been  equally  true  of  the  elder  generation  to  which  Rachel 
belonged :  "When  I  came  to  lie  on  my  mother's  breast  she 
sang  me  lullabies  on  lofty  themes.  I  heard  the  names  of 
Rebecca,  Rachel,  and  Leah  as  early  as  the  names  of  father, 
mother,  nurse.  My  baby  soul  was  enthralled  by  sad  and 
noble  cadences  as  my  mother  sang  of  my  ancient  home  in 
Palestine  or  mourned  over  the  desolation  of  Zion.  With 
the  first  rattle  that  was  placed  in  my  hand  a  prayer  was 
pronounced  over  me,  a  petition  that  a  pious  man  might  take 
me  to  wife,  and  a  messiah  be  among  my  sons." 

Though  she  lived  more  than  two  thirds  of  her  life  in 
America  Rachel  Weinstock  remained  to  the  last  essentially 
what  she  was  when  she  first  came.  Never  could  she  be 
induced  to  live  for  long  away  from  the  Jewish  environment 
in  the  East  Side  of  New  York.  As  her  sons  grew  prosperous 
they  were  anxious  that  their  mother  should  share  the  greater 
comfort  of  their  life  in  California ;  she  tried  it  to  please  them, 
but  she  was  not  happy  there  and  soon  left.  She  loved  to 
be  among  those  whom  she  felt  were  her  own  people,  talking 


FROM  INFANCY  TO  MANHOOD  19 

her  own  Yiddish  dialect,  helping  with  inexhaustible  charity 
from  her  small  means  all  more  needy  than  herself.  Thus 
it  was  in  the  latter  years  of  her  life,  when,  had  she  wished, 
she  could  have  lived  in  luxury  in  the  American  homes  of  her 
American  children.  In  the  early  days  in  New  York  she 
showed  the  fine  stuflF  she  was  made  of  in  the  energy  and  ability 
with  which  she  faced  poverty  and  the  labors  and  responsi- 
bilities of  a  large,  growing  family.  Nor  were  her  virtues 
all  of  the  prosaic,  materialistic  order.  David  Lubin  always 
said  that  his  mother  was  largely  gifted  with  intuition  and 
spiritual  insight;  what  he  possessed  of  these  qualities  he 
derived,  he  said,  entirely  from  her.  She  always  remained 
her  son's  ideal  of  a  wife  and  mother,  and  I  have  often  heard 
him  contrast  the  virtues  of  his  "old  chump  of  a  mother" 
as  he  would  endearingly  call  her,  with  the  follies  and  foibles 
of  the  modern,  gadabout,  society  woman  for  whom  he  had 
no  love.  As  cook,  housekeeper,  dressmaker,  home-maker 
and  educator  she  toiled  early  and  late  for  her  family,  and  the 
stews  and  cookies  which  his  mother  made,  the  fine  coat  with 
shiny  buttons  which  she  had  sewn  for  him,  the  stories  she 
used  to  delight  him  with,  the  lessons  in  honesty,  truthfulness, 
and  integrity  which  she  taught  by  word  and  example  were 
never  forgotten  by  her  son,  and  in  his  opinion,  nothing 
equaled  them. 

Rachel  Weinstock  firmly  believed  that  David  was  destined 
for  great  things  —  had  not  the  Rabbi  told  her  so  when  the 
babe  was  but  four  days  old  ?  Did  he  not  bear  the  mark  of  a 
special  call  ?  —  and  she  watched  over  the  fatherless  boy  with 
anxious  solicitude.  While  she  scolded  and  punished  him  for 
his  childish  misdemeanors,  it  was  she  who  developed  his 
native  idealism  by  handing  on  to  him  the  traditions  of  his 
people.  At  her  knee  David  learned  the  Hebrew  psalms  and 
prayers  —  he  had  to  learn  them,  and  negligence  was  followed 
by  condign  punishment.  He  used  to  say  that  as  a  child 
he  often  looked  with  longing  eyes  at  the  Irish  boys  of  the 
neighborhood,  free  to  play  and  fight  gloriously  in  the  streets 
while  he  had  to  stay  home  and  memorize  the  psalms.    But 


«0  DAVID  LUBIN 

this  was  only  one  side  of  his  mother's  teaching ;  she  was  also 
a  great  hand  at  telling  stories,  quaint,  shrewd,  humorous 
folklore  tales,  long  imaginative  yarns  of  adventures  and 
travel,  as  well  as  Bible  stories  and  the  historical  traditions 
of  his  people,  in  simple,  impressive  words  which  left  a  mark 
on  the  sensitive  boy  that  nothing  could  efface. 

David  loved  those  stories  which  did  far  more  to  develop 
his  mind  than  the  scanty  schooling  he  got.  They  fed  his 
imagination,  carrying  him  back  to  the  Jewish  communities 
in  Russian  Poland,  and  way  back  further  to  that  Holy  Land, 
that  Zion,  of  which  his  mother  spoke  with  a  devotion  and 
love  which  made  her  words  glow  and  her  characters  live. 
She  told  him  of  the  Maccabees,  of  the  wars  with  the  Romans, 
and  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  David  made  himself 
a  wooden  sword  which  he  covered  with  tin  foil  and  in  his 
games  would  proudly  fancy  himself  a  Jewish  hero  fighting 
the  Romans  single-handed.  And  then  his  mother  would  tell 
him  of  the  dispersion  and  of  the  grievous  persecutions  that 
Israel  had  suffered  for  his  faith,  and  she  would  tell  David  how 
he  had  been  marked  by  a  sign,  set  apart  for  a  purpose,  and 
that  he  was  to  grow  up  to  be  a  Servant  of  the  Lord,  to  serve 
his  people  and  to  serve  the  world.  "You  will  sit  at  table 
with  Kings,"  she  would  say  in  her  quaint  figurative  language ; 
and  the  strength  of  her  conviction  penetrated  deep  into  the 
child's  soul,  sowing  seed  which  could  not  be  stifled  by  the 
other  side  of  his  life  which  he  lived  in  the  American  public 
school,  with  American  boys,  American  ideals,  American 
ambitions. 

Both  in  the  home  and  in  the  school,  though  in  such  dif- 
ferent tongues,  he  was  taught  devotion  to  an  ideal.  In  the 
home,  by  the  little  mother,  it  was  called  "The  Lord  our 
Righteousness";  in  the  school  it  was  America,  Liberty, 
Democracy  —  and  in  the  boy's  heart  these  came  to  be  one 
and  the  same  ideal  which  he,  in  some  mysterious  way,  had 
been  set  apart  to  serve. 

The  public  school  was  doing  its  work ;  the  boy  was  growing 
up  an  American.     Where  Russia   with  all  her  autocratic 


FROM  INFANCY  TO  MANHOOD  21 

power  utterly  failed  to  denationalize  and  assimilate,  America, 
by  gift  of  perfect  freedom,  by  absolute  respect  of  religious 
beliefs,  by  granting  complete  equality  of  opportunity, 
succeeds;  succeeds  because  she  sets  up  an  ideal  which  the 
stranger  within  her  gates  soon  comes  to  recognize  as  his  own, 
however  different  may  be  the  language  in  which  it  is  ex- 
pressed, his  own  because  at  bottom  it  is  the  expression  of 
that  love  of  liberty  and  justice  which  instinctively  lives  deep 
down  in  all  human  hearts. 

While  the  young  David  was  mastering  the  three  R's  on 
the  benches  of  the  public  school,  events  of  world  import 
were  brewing.  In  1861  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  and,  the 
boy,  then  a  full-fledged  American  in  spirit,  thought,  and 
speech,  experienced  the  thrills  of  patriotism,  the  emotions 
of  a  struggle  to  the  death  for  a  great  ideal  in  which  the 
environment  he  was  growing  up  in  was  saturated.  He 
caught  also  some  glimpses  of  the  "alarums  and  excursions  of 
war." 

Recruiting  stations  had  been  opened  in  all  quarters  of  the 
town,  and  soap-box  orators,  to  the  martial  strains  of  drum 
and  fife,  called  on  the  youth  of  the  country  to  rally  round 
Old  Glory  and  save  the  Union.  David  longed  to  enlist,  in 
spite  of  his  mother's  threats  of  dire  punishment  if  he  talked 
of  such  a  thing  at  his  age.  One  day  the  temptation  proved 
too  strong  and  he  answered  the  impassioned  appeal  of  a 
recruiting  sergeant,  who  promptly  took  him  at  his  word, 
backed  up  as  he  was  in  his  statement  as  to  age  by  a  man  in 
the  crowd  who  volunteered  to  act  the  part  of  uncle  for  the 
occasion.  However,  when  the  youthful  recruit  was  brought 
before  the  officer  in  charge,  the  latter  looked  him  up  and  down 
and  dismissed  him  with  the  injunction  to  go  straight  back 
home  to  his  mother.  For  all  his  love  of  adventure,  David 
Lubin  was  to  be  neither  sailor  nor  soldier. 

Later  on  he  was  to  see  something  of  the  ugly  side  of  war 
as  well,  and  the  scenes  he  witnessed  during  an  anti-Negro 
riot  to  which  the  military  draft  of  1863  gave  rise  left  on 
him  a  lasting  impression  of  horror,  trained  as  he  had  been 


22  DAVID   LUBIN 

by  his  pious  mother  to  look  upon  an  insult  to  a  man  because 
of  the  color  of  his  skin  as  reproach  to  his  Maker.  He  used 
to  tell  how,  with  his  half-brother  Harry,  he  had,  on  that  occa- 
sion, saved  a  Negro  from  the  fury  of  the  mob.  The  two  boys 
were  playing  in  the  street  in  front  of  the  house  where  they 
lived  when  the  poor  terrified  black  rushed  up  a  little  ahead 
of  his  persecutors.  David  took  in  the  situation  at  a  glance 
and  pushed  the  poor  fellow  into  a  closet  in  the  courtyard  of 
the  house,  which  had  a  second  entrance  on  another  street. 
The  crowd  followed  hot  on  the  scent,  and  on  being  informed 
that  their  quarry  had  turned  the  corner,  rushed  off  after 
him ;  while  his  pursuers  ran  in  the  wrong  direction,  the  boys 
smuggled  the  poor  fellow  out  by  the  back  way. 

At  the  age  of  twelve  David  had  left  school  and  started  to 
earn  his  living.  The  orthodox  Jewish  environment  of  his 
mother's  home  was  no  longer  to  be  his ;  it  had  molded  the 
boy;  the  youth  and  the  man  were  to  be  shaped  by  the 
broader  American  influences. 

An  elder  brother,  Simon,  had  gone  to  work  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  David  followed  him  there  to  learn  the  trade  of 
jeweler  and  goldsmith,  working  ten  hours  a  day  and  earning 
six  cents  an  hour,  or  $3.60  a  week  which  he  handed  over 
to  his  brother  for  his  keep.  Simon,  however,  who  in  those 
days  was  rather  a  gay  dog,  soon  tired  of  acting  the  pater 
familias,  and  so  one  day  (I  quote  from  a  letter  written  in 
1910  by  Lubin  to  his  son  Jesse)  he  was  told,  "You'll  just 
hop  round  to  another  job,  somewhere  else,  and  earn  enough 
to  pay  for  your  board  and  lodging.  Now  skip!"  "Well, 
there  was  nothing  left  for  me  but  to  skip,  so  I  went  four  miles 
to  North  Attleboro,  howling  all  the  way.  When  there  I 
inquired  around  what  solderers  and  polishers  were  getting 
an  hour.  "Oh,  from  fourteen  cents  up,"  was  the  reply. 
So  I  went  in  to  Morse  Brothers'  shop  and  tremblingly  asked 
for  a  job,  soldering  and  polishing.  I  was  exhilaratingly 
surprised  when,  in  place  of  being  kicked  out,  I  was  given  a 
job  and  a  box  of  gold-plated  scarf  pins  were  put  before  me 
for  polishing.     Desiring  to  show  how  quickly  I  could  work. 


FROM  INFANCY  TO  MANHOOD  28 

I  pitched  in  and  was  finished  with  a  box  in  a  couple  of  hours. 
This  was  an  *  eye-opener'  for  the  foreman.  I  got  a  good 
pat  on  the  back  as  I  left  for  lunch.  On  returning  I  saw, 
near  the  desk  end  of  the  workroom,  an  excited  group  con- 
sisting of  the  two  Morse  brothers  and  the  foreman.  They 
seemed  to  be  doing  the  stunfe  act  in  Richard  III  or  in 
Coriolanus,  and  the  word  'Hell'  sounded  quite  audibly. 
At  last  the  foreman,  pointing  to  me,  said,  '  There's  the  skunk. 
Come  here.  What  in  Hell  did  you  do  ? '  I  turned  to  find 
a  hole  to  sink  into,  gave  a  furtive  glance  toward  the  door, 
but  it  was  no  use.     And  so  I  went  up  to  the  trio. 

"I  tried  to  work  as  quick  as  I  could,  Sir;  and  if  I  work 
this  afternoon  I  '11  try  still  harder."  Then  came  a  volley 
of  language,  semi-piratical,  largely  bacchanalian,  wherein 
I  was  told  that  the  'quick'  work  had  been  my  undoing. 
I  had  rubbed  off  each  pin  every  scrap  of  the  double-rolled 
gold  plate  that  had  been  put  upon  them.  I  had  rendered 
them  pure  and  simple  brass." 

The  boy,  however,  was  given  another  chance  at  his  job 
and  came  out  all  right.  Indeed,  it  was  in  this  same  shop 
that  a  little  later  on  he  took  the  first  step  toward  success. 
The  demands  of  war  were  claiming  the  services  of  industry, 
and  the  firm  received  a  big  order  for  the  blue  goggles  which 
Sherman's  troops  wore  when  crossing  the  sandy  country  on 
the  way  to  their  famous  march  through  Georgia  to  the  sea. 
David  was  set  to  soldering  these  goggles  and  taught  to  do  so 
by  dipping  each  separately.  But  the  boy  in  him  longed  to  get 
quickly  through  the  assigned  task  so  as  to  go  off  and  play. 
This  set  his  brain  to  work,  and  he  soon  devised  a  plan  by 
which  he  could  solder  a  dozen  at  a  time.  The  rapidity  with 
which  he  worked  was  noticed,  and  he  was  questioned.  The 
device  was  found  ingenious,  was  perfected  and  adopted; 
but  all  the  good  that  David  got  out  of  it  was  the  approval 
of  his  employers  for  his  smartness  and  some  extra  half 
hours  at  the  games  he  loved. 

The  appreciation  of  good  workmanship,  acquired  by  Lubin 
in  his  early  years  at  the  bench,  remained  with  him  through- 


24  DAVID  LUBIN 

out  life.  Though  he  had  no  theoretic  mastery  of  the  science 
he  took  a  great  interest  in  mechanics  and  had  his  full  share 
of  the  American  gift  for  mechanical  invention  applied  to 
labor-saving  devices.  His  early  contrivance  in  the  Attle- 
boro  jeweler's  shop  was  but  the  first  of  a  series  of  inventions 
to  which  his  success  in  life  was  in  no  small  part  due.  He 
was  gifted  with  a  remarkable  faculty  of  concentration  and 
would  bring  his  whole  mind  to  bear  on  whatever  work  he 
was  engaged  on  at  the  moment.  Consequently,  he  was 
always  trying  to  improve  and  perfect  the  means  of  accom- 
plishing his  task,  whatever  it  might  be.  Thus,  when  a  few 
years  later  he  was  working  as  traveler  for  a  firm  which  sold 
lamps  he  invented  a  non-explosive  coal-oil  lamp  which  was 
patented  by  his  employers  and  sold  to  good  effect.  Later 
on,  when  he  started  as  a  merchant  and  was  brought  in  touch 
with  "dry  goods"  he  patented  an  overall  which,  as  we  shall 
see,  was  the  origin  of  his  business  success ;  when,  as  a  further 
development  of  his  activities,  he  went  into  farming  he 
thought  out  several  devices  in  agricultural  machinery, 
among  others  a  "clod-cutter"  which  is  still  found  valuable 
in  preparing  swamp  lands  for  cultivation,  the  "Lubin 
windlass  cultivator",  and  a  "soil  pulverizer"  to  which  from 
time  to  time,  down  to  the  last  months  of  his  life,  he  devoted 
a  great  deal  of  thought  and  energy. 

The  years  in  which  David  Lubin  grew  from  boy  to  youth 
in  the  environment  of  a  New  England  manufacturing  town, 
were  years  which  witnessed  vast  revolutionary  changes 
in  thought  as  well  as  in  political  conditions.  They  were  the 
days  of  Abraham  Lincoln ;  it  was  the  New  England  of  the 
Abolitionists,  of  Thoreau,  of  Emerson,  of  Channing,  of 
Longfellow;  and  the  thought  of  the  community  in  which 
the  boy  was  growing  up  —  a  community  of  much  more 
homogeneous  stock  than  it  is  now  —  was  also  keenly  in- 
fluenced by  the  work  of  the  thinkers  and  writers  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  in  England,  in  those  years  the  very 
center  of  progressive  thought  and  action. 

In  1859  Darwin  had  published  his  "Origin  of  Species", 


FROM  INFANCY  TO  MANHOOD  25 

and  this  was  followed  at  short  distance  by  Huxley  with  his 
"Man's  Place  in  Nature",  and  by  the  first  volumes  of  Her- 
bert Spencer's  "Synthetic  Philosophy."  John  Stuart  Mill 
was  publishing  his  essays,  Carlyle  his  histories,  Bangsley 
his  social  novels.  Karl  Marx  was  writing  the  first  chapters 
of  his  "Capital",  and  from  his  refuge  in  England  was  work- 
ing with  Engels  for  the  birth  of  modern  socialism. 

The  struggle  between  the  old  order  and  the  new,  ushered 
in  by  the  French  Revolution,  a  struggle  which  has  not  even 
yet  completed  its  cycle,  was  convulsing  the  political  and 
economic  regime  of  both  hemispheres.  The  European 
movement  reacted  on  the  New  World,  largely  through  the 
influx  of  refugees  from  political,  religious,  or  economic 
persecution,  who  sought  asylum  in  America  with  its  freer 
atmosphere  and  wider  opportunities. 

The  United  States  was  just  entering  on  that  transition 
period  which  was  to  multiply  its  population  several  times 
over,  fundamentally  modify  its  racial  characteristics,  make 
of  a  country  until  then  essentially  a  grower  and  ex- 
porter of  staples  a  great  commercial  and  manufacturing 
center ;  a  transition  which  was  to  shift  the  balance  of  power 
from  the  farm  to  the  factory,  and  to  give  us  the  industrial 
organizations,  the  trusts,  and  also  the  labor  unions  which 
have  made  the  United  States  what  it  now  is.  Those  were 
the  years  in  which,  following  on  the  earlier  discovery  of  gold, 
the  Far  West  was  opened  up  and  the  great  railways  built ; 
the  days  of  the  discovery  of  the  full  extent  of  America's 
vast  mineral  wealth  in  oil  and  iron ;  the  days  of  the  great 
prosperity  of  the  California  gold  mines;  the  days  when 
fortunes  were  made  overnight,  and  the  hod-carrier  of  to-day 
became  the  millionaire  of  to-morrow. 

Politically,  intellectually,  materially  a  continent  was 
opening  up;  social  and  religious  experiments  were  being 
made  on  all  hands;  nothing  seemed  impossible;  nothing 
beyond  man's  power  to  grasp  and  master;  and  in  this 
environment  the  psychology  of  East  and  West  met  in  the 
boy  David  and  mingled  to  produce  the  man  that  was  to  be. 


36  DAVID  LUBIN 

Though  not  what  is  meant  by  a  studious  boy,  Lubin  was 
always  a  great  reader  and  an  independent  thinker,  ahve 
and  sensitive  to  the  intellectual  stir  around  him.  He  was 
only  fourteen  when  he  first  began  to  read  Spencer  and 
Huxley,  who  remained  prime  favorites  with  him  all  his  life. 
With  them  he  came  under  the  influence  of  modern  scientific 
thought.  The  "Lord  our  Righteousness"  of  his  mother 
was  to  become  "the  Unknowable"  of  Herbert  Spencer, 
and  orthodox  tenets  made  room  for  speculative  thought. 

But  the  old  longing  for  adventure  was  strong  in  the  growing 
youth,  and  not  to  be  gainsaid.  The  thoughts  of  America 
were  steadily  turning  westward ;  and  in  1865,  when  sixteen 
years  of  age,  the  boy  turned  his  back  on  New  England  and 
set  forth  on  his  travels. 

His  dearly  loved  elder  sister  Jeanne tte,  his  close  chum  and 
protector  in  the  stormy  days  of  his  boyish  scrapes  in  New 
York,  whose  memory  he  cherished  and  revered  to  the  last 
as  one  of  life's  saints,  had  married  and  gone  to  California. 

This  was  the  magnet  which  first  drew  him  to  the  Land  of 
the  Setting  Sun.  But  these  were  to  be  his  "wander  years" 
and  he  was  not  to  settle  down  until  his  longing  for  the  new 
and  marvelous  had  been  satisfied. 

Of  his  journey  across  the  continent  in  those  days  of  slow 
and  difficult  travel  no  record  remains,  but  we  can  be  sure 
that  nothing  of  the  incident  and  novelty  of  what  must  have 
been  a  great  experience  was  lost  on  the  boy.  He  used  to  tell 
me  that  he  worked  for  some  months  at  his  old  trade  of 
jeweler  in  San  Francisco  and  felt  the  strange  fascination 
of  that  beautifully  situated  city,  which  had  suddenly  grown 
from  a  rough  pioneer  settlement  into  a  metropolis  where 
West  met  East.  Chinatown ;  the  port  with  its  interna- 
tional medley ;  the  wooden  houses ;  the  rough-paved, 
bustling  streets  where  miners  and  merchants,  pioneers  and 
sharpers,  laborers  suddenly  transformed  into  millionaires, 
gamblers,  sailors,  adventurers  of  all  kinds  and  nationalities 
met  and  mingled,  worked  and  quarreled,  fought  and  grew 
rich;    the  city  where  lawlessness  and  crime  were  offset  by 


FROM  INFANCY  TO  MANHOOD  27 

Vigilance  Committees  and  Lynch  Law  all  entered  into  the 
varying  features  of  the  panorama  spread  before  him.  He 
took  it  all  in,  learned  its  turn  of  speech,  which  became  his 
own,  gloried  in  the  warmth  and  color  and  sunshine  of  gener- 
ous, open-handed,  warm-hearted  California,  which  awoke 
within  him  atavistic  longings  for  a  land  "flowing  in  milk 
and  honey";  and  then  again  the  urge  to  move  came  on. 
One  evening  he  informed  his  employer  that  he  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  try  his  luck  and  seek  for  gold  in  Arizona. 

He  went  South,  taking  with  him  as  his  dearest  possession 
a  little  violin  he  had  brought  from  his  New  York  home; 
for  Lubin,  though  by  no  manner  of  means  a  musician,  was 
all  his  life  long  an  ardent  lover  of  music.  At  his  mother's 
bidding  he  had  learned  to  play  the  old-world  melodies  to 
the  Hebrew  songs  she  taught  him  and  had  ^dded  thereto  the 
simple  popular  repertory  of  his  day,  and  all  through  his 
wanderings  his  fiddle  was  his  faithful  companion. 

He  stayed  for  some  time  in  Los  Angeles,  then  a  village 
of  a  few  thousand  inhabitants,  surrounded  by  what  was 
practically  desert  country,  peopled  by  coyotes  and  jack 
rabbits.  He  worked  there  some  months  in  a  lumber  yard, 
"packing  lumber."  Strong,  vigorous,  fond  of  manly  sports 
—  riding,  swimming,  dancing  —  he  enjoyed  the  primitive 
life  of  those  rude  pioneer  communities.  He  remembered 
a  wild  ride,  his  first  one,  on  a  partially  broken-in  horse  on 
which  he  rashly  set  out  at  his  employer's  bidding,  who  never 
guessed  that  he  was  such  a  novice  at  horsemanship ;  on 
another  occasion  he  got  caught  in  the  quicksands  and  owed 
his  life  to  the  fact  that  he  remembered  having  read  that  in 
such  a  plight  the  right  thing  to  do  is  to  keep  on  moving  your 
feet  (or  your  pony's,  as  the  case  might  be).  By  acting  on 
this  advice  he  at  last  managed  to  struggle  to  terra  firma, 
but  not  before  he  had  stared  death  in  the  face.  But  still 
the  wilds  called  him,  and  he  was  not  to  have  peace  until 
he  had  experienced  the  desert,  and  the  mystery  and  poetry 
of  great  solitudes  had  sunk  into  his  soul. 

In  1868  his  chance  came,  and  the  youth  joined  a  party 


28  DAVID  LUBIN 

of  reckless,  adventuresome  spirits  who,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  one  Captain  Kirby,  set  off  with  a  pack  of  horses  and 
mules  over  the  long  trail  for  Arizona  to  seek  for  gold. 

A  glimpse  of  his  life  there  and  of  the  affectionate  remem- 
brance in  which  he  held  "Old  Arizony"  is  afforded  by  the 
following  letter,  written  nearly  forty  years  later,  in  reply 
to  a  communication  received  from  a  mail-order  customer. 
The  typewritten  copy  before  me  is  prefaced  by  a  penciled 
note  written  in  Mr.  Lubin's  hand  to  his  partner,  Mr.  Wein- 
stock:  "This  is  a  sample  of  what  I  mean  by  business- 
making  letters." 


(New  York)  February  23rd,  1904. 


Mrs.  Ed.  Garcia, 
Wickenburg,  Ariz. 


Dear  Madam : 

Your  order  was  handed  to  me  by  the  clerk,  who  drew 
my  attention  to  the  last  line,  and  while  our  custom  is  not 
to  send  anything  to  any  customer,  in  order  that  we  may 
do  strict  justice  to  all,  yet  as  you  are  from  Wickenburg,  I 
will  make  an  exception. 

I  do  so  because  I  have  some  recollections  of  Wickenburg 
which  date  back  to  a  time  perhaps  before  you  were  born. 
In  1868-69  I  was  one  of  the  party  of  fourteen  prospectors 
who  pioneered  from  Los  Angeles,  coming  over  the  old  Emi- 
grant trail,  to  Wickenburg,  where  most  of  the  party  re- 
mained, and  worked  in  the  Vulture  Mine.  During  those 
old  pioneer  days  the  place  was  thickly  infested  by  the  Apache 
Indians  and  your  letter  brings  to  my  recollection  the  vivid 
times  of  early  days. 

I  remember  crossing  Yuma,  and  going  toward  Castle 
Dome,  and  then  afterwards  striking  out  for  the  "Dry 
Tanks",  which  were  sure  enough  "dry",  and  then  to  make 
our  way  back  again  to  the  Colorado  River,  being  nearly  two 
days  without  food  or  water,  and  you  may  realize  what  that 
means.  At  one  place  our  captain  shot  down  some  steers, 
in  order  to  save  our  lives,  and  on  reaching  the  Colorado 
River  we  proceeded  on  our  way  by  La  Paz.     I  have  some 


FROM  INFANCY^  TO  MANHOOD  29 

recollection  of  Granite  Wash  and  Dos  Palmos.  Is  there  any 
recollection  of  Crete  Bryant  and  his  mule  teams  ?  I  worked 
for  the  Vulture  Mills  at  Wickenburg  at  a  time  when  a  Mr. 
Brown  was  the  manager.  I  have  some  faint  recollection 
of  the  Arizona  House.  I  wonder  if  that  is  there  yet  ?  Our 
party  had  the  usual  experiences  of  camping  out  in  the  Desert 
where  the  friendly  Coyote  or  the  "sly  Rattler"  made  them- 
selves more  or  less  manifest.  I  also  have  some  recollections 
of  *'  Frejoles  "  and  "  Tartilles." 

During  the  time  of  our  wanderings  I  became  separated 
from  the  party  and  was  lost  in  the  desert  for  nearly  two 
days.  It  is  quite  pleasant  to  think  of  those  old  times  again, 
and  in  remembrance  thereof,  I  take  pleasure  in  sending  you  a 
silk  shawl  which  I  hope  you  will  wear  with  my  compli- 
ments. 

With  high  esteem,  I  remain. 
Yours  very  truly, 

D.  Lubin  (of  W.  L.  &  Co.). 

The  deep  impression  left  on  his  mind  by  those  years  passed 
in  the  wilderness  is  again  apparent  in  the  following  extract 
from  a  letter  which  he  sent  some  years  later  (May  13,  1915) 
to  Governor  Hunt  of  Arizona. 

I  should  be  pleased  [he  writes],  to  have  Arizona  and  its 
Governor  exert  whatever  influence  is  possible  toward  the 
carrying  out  of  this  measure  [a  proposal  for  a  national 
marketing  organization  to  which  Mr.  Lubin  was  then  devot- 
ing much  thought],  especially  so  since  I  have,  years  ago, 
passed  several  years  of  my  life  travelling  through  Arizona 
on  a  prospecting  tour.  It  was  some  time  in  the  latter  end 
of  the  sixties,  when  much  of  the  travelling  had  to  be  done 
on  ponies  or  on  foot,  and  when  the  staples  of  life  consisted 
mainly  of  flap-jacks,  black  coffee,  and  bacon,  and  sometimes 
mighty  little  of  that ;  and  when  the  mode  of  retiring  was  to 
throw  your  blanket  down  on  the  ground,  lie  down  on  one 
end  of  it,  and  roll  and  keep  on  rolling  until  you  reached 
your  pillow,  the  said  pillow  consisting  of  the  saddle  with  a 
great  brown  felt  sombrero  in  the  centre,  and  the  trick  was 
to  finish  the  roll  by  landing  your  head  in  the  centre  of  the 


so  DAVID  LUBIN 

sombrero,  and  then  sleep.  And  now  I  hear  that  they  are 
wearing  high  hats  and  evening  dress  suits,  and  boiled  shirts 
in  that  same  Arizona,  and  that  the  Apache  and  the  Apache- 
Mohaves,  and  the  Pimos  and  the  Maricopas  are  about  gone, 
and  perhaps  the  rattle-snakes  too. 

Dear,  quaint,  weird  old  Arizona  is  a  piece  of  poetic  inspira- 
tion !  Its  rarefied  atmosphere,  its  bunch  grass,  its  uncanny 
looking  cactus,  and  its  dried  river  beds,  its  vast  natural 
parks  with  miles  of  flowers,  its  yellow  mustard  fields,  its 
seas  of  sand,  and  its  endless  mesas  !  It  is  perhaps  not  with- 
out reason  that  the  great  religious  prophets,  the  Moses,  the 
Elijahs,  the  Johns  and  the  Mohammeds,  obtained  their 
inspiration  from  the  desert.  I  may  say  that  whatever  little 
work  I  have  been  able  to  do  in  the  hope  of  bettering  human 
conditions  has  had  its  inspiration  from  my  few  years  tramp- 
ing in  Arizona. 

Speaking  of  his  companions  of  those  days,  of  Captain 
Kirby  and  his  men,  Lubin  would  say:  "they  would  as  lief 
have  shot  down  an  Indian  as  a  rabbit;  and  with  no  more 
compunction ;  the  thing  was  incomprehensible  to  me." 

"Whoso  mocketh  a  man  reproacheth  his  Maker,"  was  a 
precept  engraved  on  his  mind  as  a  child,  and  Lubin  saw  in 
the  Indian  a  fellow  man  and  felt  toward  him  as  such.  In- 
deed, his  attitude  toward  the  backward,  childish  peoples 
of  the  earth  —  Indians,  Negroes,  primitive  races  of  all  sorts 
—  was  always  markedly  sympathetic ;  that  of  the  elder 
brother,  half-compassionate,  half-amused,  who  would  fain 
help  and  protect.  And  the  Indians  divined  the  difference 
between  him  and  his  associates.  Sometimes  some  of  the 
bolder  spirits  would  cautiously  approach  the  camp  fires, 
with  little  parcels  of  gold  dust  to  exchange  for  tobacco  and 
other  commodities.  Lubin  would  get  in  touch  with  them, 
they  interested  him;  he  would  share  his  precious  tobacco 
with  them,  and  they  would  listen  to  the  tunes  he  played 
on  his  fiddle  and  press  on  him  their  gifts.  If  the  party 
stayed  any  length  of  time  in  a  place  he  would  get  quite 
friendly  with  some  and  so  it  was  that  once,  when  he  fell 


FROM  INFANCY  TO  MANHOOD  SI 

very  ill  with  chills  and  fever,  an  old  Indian  took  him  off  to 
his  camp  and  cared  for  him,  curing  the  sickness  with  the 
simple  but  effective  remedies  known  to  the  natives. 

Things,  however,  were  not  always  so  peaceful ;  sometimes 
the  white  intruders  had  quite  serious  encounters  with  the 
original  owners  of  the  territory,  and  in  one  of  these  skirmishes 
Lubin  got  an  ugly  wound  in  the  leg. 

In  more  ways  than  one  Arizona  molded  Lubin's  character. 
He  learned  while  there  to  deal  with  rough  men,  to  hold  his 
own  with  them,  to  swear  and  fight  with  the  best  if  occasion 
arose. 

Physically  the  life  was  splendid,  and  the  youth  grew  into 
a  vigorous,  robust  man  of  good  medium  height,  broad- 
shouldered,  lean  and  muscular;  with  an  abundant  crop  of 
jet-black  hair,  a  high  narrow  forehead,  bushy  eyebrows 
overshadowing  deep-set,  keen,  yet  kindly  gray  eyes.  He 
was  very  dark-complexioned,  with  the  large  mouth  of  an 
orator,  a  powerful  jaw,  and  a  small,  round,  obstinate 
chin.  The  shape  of  his  head  was  remarkably  long  and 
narrow,  though  deep ;  his  noticeably  flat  ears  were  set  well 
back,  and  he  had  a  remarkable  facial  angle. 

Lubin  acquired  in  Arizona  the  rough,  picturesque,  and 
forcible  speech  of  the  pioneer,  and  a  gift  for  expressing  him- 
self in  such  simple  terms  that,  later  on,  even  when  dis- 
cussing abstract  and  intricate  themes,  he  could  make  his 
meaning  clear,  not  only  to  the  educated  but  also  to  the 
illiterate.  He  learned  to  take  nothing  for  granted;  to 
think  out  his  problems  for  himself,  and  when  he  had  once 
made  up  his  mind,  to  take  rapid  decisions  and  to  act  on 
them. 

The  two  days  he  was  lost  in  the  desert  made  a  deep  and 
lasting  impression  on  him.  Such  an  accident  meant  almost 
certain  death,  yet  he  used  to  say  that  when  the  first  shock 
of  realization  was  over,  he  experienced  not  fear  but  a  deep 
awe  and  wonder.  He  felt  the  imminent  presence  of  God 
as  it  is  felt  only  in  the  desert,  and  realized  in  every  fiber 
of  his  being  the  majesty  and  beauty  of  the  infinite  space 


32  DAVID  LUBIN 

surrounding  him,  of  the  audible  silence,  of  the  weird  and 
wondrous  desert  coloring,  of  the  sun,  as  it  sank,  a  huge 
orb  of  fire,  behind  the  horizon  of  the  sand-sea  which  spread 
limitless  on  all  sides,  of  the  mystery  of  the  unnumbered 
stars  which,  in  those  latitudes  and  in  that  rarefied  atmos- 
phere, shine  with  unwonted  splendor  as  night's  shadows 
fall.  He  looked  into  his  own  soul  and  felt  the  promptings 
of  destiny. 

On  the  eve  of  the  second  day,  as  he  was  wandering  aim- 
lessly, letting  his  exhausted  pony  go  its  own  way,  he  suddenly 
stumbled  across  his  party  again.  They  had  almost  given 
him  up  for  lost,  and  indeed,  as  Lubin  himself  used  to  say, 
it  was  little  short  of  miraculous  that  he  should  ever  have 
been  heard  of  again. 

It  was  some  time  after  this  that  an  incident  occurred 
which  gave  a  turn  to  his  thoughts  and  subsequently  to  his 
life.  One  day,  as  he  was  working  with  the  others,  he  started 
singing  to  himself,  and  the  melody  and  words  which  came 
to  his  lips  were  those  of  one  of  the  old  Hebrew  songs  of  his 
childhood.  One  of  his  mates,  a  rough,  quarrelsome  fellow, 
suddenly  asked  him  what  he  was  singing.  Lubin  explained 
that  it  was  a  song  he  had  learned  as  a  child. 

"But  what  lingo  is  that?"  persisted  the  other. 

"Oh,  that  is  Hebrew,"  replied  Lubin. 

The  fellow  stopped  in  his  work  and  stared  at  him  in 
astonishment.  "Why,  you  don't  mean  to  say  you're  a 
damned  Jew,  do  you?" 

It  ended  in  a  fight,  and  the  man,  who  was  something  of  a 
bully,  got  the  worst  of  it,  and  when  the  matter  came  to  the 
ears  of  Captain  Kirby  he  advised  the  fellow  to  make  him- 
self scarce. 

In  Lubin  resentment  at  the  silly  insult  died  out  with  the 
fight ;  but  not  so  the  train  of  thought  to  which  it  had  given 
rise.  It  brought  back  to  him  his  childhood  days  and  the 
precepts  and  traditions  his  mother  had  taught  him,  all  of 
which  had  receded  somewhat  into  the  background  during 
the  years  that  he  had  been  living  and  working  in  a  purely 


FROM  INFANCY  TO  MANHOOD  SS 

American  environment.  If  Judaism  was  what  his  mother 
taught,  why  this  hatred?  Why  "damned  Jew"?  And 
there  grew  in  him  a  desire  and  a  determination  to  master 
the  inner  meaning  of  the  history  of  the  people  to  which  he 
belonged.  The  conviction  instilled  into  him  by  his  mother 
that  the  day  would  come  when  in  answer  to  a  special  call 
it  would  be  his  privilege  to  serve  that  people,  recurred  to 
him  and  he  longed  to  do  so,  but  already  he  was  outgrowing 
narrow  particularism,  and  in  the  desire  to  serve  he  embraced 
not  one  but  all,  not  only  Jew  but  Gentile.  He  would  serve 
America,  the  biggest  collectivity  he  then  grasped. 

But  with  this  desire  came  the  realization  of  the  limitations 
of  his  education.  He  knew  that  the  three  R's  and  the 
Psalms  were  not  enough ;  he  felt  that  there  was  something 
behind  the  ritual  of  the  synagogue  which  he  failed  to  get 
at,  which  those  who  had  hitherto  taught  him  could  not  teach. 
Instinctively  he  felt  that  religion,  as  commonly  practiced, 
was  but  the  shadow  of  a  substance  at  which  he  guessed  but 
knew  not.  There  was  something  beyond  the  ceremonies 
and  symbols,  however  poetic ;  something  deeper  and  loftier 
than  the  words,  however  solemn,  chanted  amid  the  blare 
of  the  ram's  horn  on  the  day  of  Kippur.  He  now  felt  — 
he  knew  —  that  this  something  was  the  essential.  He 
formed  the  resolve  to  fathom  the  inner  essence  of  religion; 
to  get  at  the  heart  of  it ;  and  he  made  up  his  mind  that  as 
soon  as  occasion  offered  he  would  make  it  his  business  to 
study  and  to  know. 

Some  years  were  still  to  pass,  however,  before  he  found 
his  life  work.  After  the  Arizona  adventure  his  thoughts 
turned  eastward  once  more  to  the  mother  and  the  home 
associations.  He  had  not  "found  gold"  nor  "struck  oil" 
during  his  joumeyings.  He  returned  as  poor  in  pocket 
as  he  had  gone,  with  nothing  to  show  for  his  pains  but  the 
cherished  little  bags  of  gold  dust  which  the  Indians  had 
given  him.  With  these  and  his  precious  fiddle  he  started 
homeward. 

The  chronology  of  these  years  is  somewhat  faulty  in  the 


34  DAVID  LUBIN 

few  recollections  held  of  them  by  surviving  relatives,  but  a 
landmark  is  afforded  us  by  a  glimpse  we  catch  of  him  making 
a  stop  in  Chicago  on  his  way  to  New  York,  and  being  caught 
in  the  great  fire  which  destroyed  that  city  on  the  8th  of 
October,  1871.  In  the  fire  he  lost  all  his  few  possessions, 
including  the  gold  dust,  and  just  managed  to  escape  with 
nothing  but  the  clothes  he  stood  up  in  and  his  beloved 
fiddle. 

After  this  he  "took  to  the  road"  as  he  used  to  express  it, 
traveling  for  a  time  for  a  New  York  firm  of  lamp  manu- 
facturers. He  made  his  headquarters  at  his  mother's, 
and  his  sister,  Mrs.  Fanny  Bonnheim,  remembers  David 
coming  home  at  intervals,  bringing  with  him  new  books  and 
new  ideas  in  which  he  used  to  try  and  interest  the  family 
circle,  and  also  bringing  new  food  in  the  shape  of  the  banana, 
then  still  a  novelty,  introduced  by  him  to  the  household  as  a 
particularly  healthy  and  nourishing  fruit.  Mrs.  Bonnheim 
recalls  him  as  a  moody,  erratic,  hot-tempered  youth,  of 
whom  the  young  fry  of  the  family  stood  much  in  awe.  He 
would  pore  over  his  books  and  studies  and  at  such  times 
would  be  intensely  impatient  of  any  noise  or  interruption, 
and  his  mother  would  enjoin  on  the  children  that  by  no 
means  must  "  her  David"  be  disturbed  as  he  "was  thinking 
out  things." 

At  one  time  he  thought  he  would  try  his  fortunes  as  a 
commercial  traveler  on  his  own  account  instead  of  working 
for  his  firm  and  went  south  as  far  as  New  Orleans,  but 
though  he  doubtless  acquired  experience,  his  new  venture 
was  a  dead  failure  from  the  financial  standpoint.  I  re- 
member his  telling  me  it  was  his  worst  experience  in  that 
line;  he  got  reduced  to  such  extremities  that  he  did  not 
know  where  to  look  for  his  next  meal,  and  had  to  work 
his  passage  back  North  on  a  river  steamer  in  the  roughest 
of  rough  and  unwashed  company. 

On  one  of  his  visits  to  New  York  the  explosion  of  a  coal- 
oil  lamp,  which  nearly  burned  down  his  mother's  home,  set 
his  mind  to  work^  resulting  in  the  invention  of  the  non- 


FROM   INFANCY   TO   MANHOOD  35 

explosive  lamp  already  referred  to.  Once  again  a  mechanical 
device,  adopted  and  patented  by  the  firm  for  which  he 
worked,  materially  aided  his  success  in  life. 

All  this  while  he^had  not  forgotten  the  determination 
formed  in  Arizona.  If  there  was  little  of  the  mystic  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  the  speculative  philosopher  in  Lubin's 
composition.  While  the  orthodoxy  of  his  childhood  still 
inspired  him  with  reverence,  yet  he  had  outgrown  it;  not 
so  the  religion.  That  he  was  only  just  growing  into ;  but 
he  needed  to  get  it  on  a  basis  that  would  satisfy  his  reason  as 
well  as  his  emotions,  a  basis  that  would  afford  a  firm  anchor- 
age for  his  thought.  He  felt  the  call  to  service,  but,  as  he 
wrote  years  later,  "as  the  true  marksman  must  have  a 
given  point  at  which  to  aim,  so  the  effective  teacher  must 
have  a  logical  postulate  from  whence  to  draw  his  deductions." 
It  was  this  logical  postulate  which  he  was  to  work  out  for 
himself,  Arizona  fashion,  taking  nothing  for  granted,  and 
never  consciously  allowing  himself  to  be  carried  away  by 
mere  words. 

A  vast  intellectual  curiosity  stirred  within  him;  he  fed 
it  on  the  one  hand  by  studying  the  book  of  life  as  read  by 
the  light  of  his  daily  experience,  on  the  other  by  poring 
over  the  volumes  of  history,  of  philosophy,  or  of  speculative 
thought  that  came  his  way. 

And  then  came  a  new  experience  which  left  its  mark  on 
him.  A  year  or  two  after  his  return  from  Arizona  he 
made  his  first  trip  to  Europe,  crossing  to  Amsterdam,  and 
traveling  thence  through  Germany  and  Austria  to  Poland. 
We  can  picture  the  contrast  between  democracy  in  an 
extreme  form,  such  as  he  had  lived  it  for  three  years  in  the 
Wild  West,  and  the  class  distinctions,  traditions  and  cus- 
toms of  what  was  then  still  largely  feudal  Central  Europe. 
I  have  heard  Mr.  Lubin  tell,  with  retrospective  amusement, 
how,  boylike,  he  was  dazzled  and  overawed  by  the  glitter 
and  splendor  of  the  magnificent  porter  in  the  Viennese 
Hotel,  who  condescended  to  honor  such  an  outsider  as 
.  himself  with  advice  and  assistance.     Lubin  felt  sure  that 


36  DAVID  LUBIN 

it  would  never  do  to  insult  such  a  grandee  by  offering  him  a 
tip,  though  he  had  soon  discovered  that  the  smaller  fry 
were  by  no  means  averse  to  such  tokens  of  regard.  When, 
after  a  few  days,  the  porter  no  longer  smiled  upon  him, 
Lubin  felt  he  must  have  been  guilty  of  some  grave  breach 
of  etiquette,  and  in  his  anxiety  went  off  to  consult  the 
American  consul,  who  had  already  assisted  him  in  getting 
his  greenbacks  changed  into  the  local  currency.  "  When 
did  you  last  tip  him.'^"  the  consul  inquired,  and  the  guffaw 
with  which  Lubin's  reply  was  received  was  enlightening  to 
this  young  scion  of  a  democracy  where  bowing  and  scraping 
for  gratuities  was  looked  upon  as  degrading. 

On  this  occasion  he  visited  Warsaw  and  probably  also  his 
native  town.  Here  he  saw  the  life  of  the  Jew  living  literally 
as  an  exile  in  a  foreign  and  hostile  land ;  but  what  impressed 
him  most  were  not  so  much  the  material  disabilities  as  the 
atmosphere  of  spiritual  fervor  and  apartness  of  the  com- 
munity, kept  together  by  a  theme  and  a  self-imposed  Law. 
Yet  he  could  not  but  perceive  that  the  wealth  of  conserved 
energy  of  these  communities  was  going  to  waste;  circum- 
stances had  forced  it  into  sterile  channels  whence  only  now 
and  again  an  individual  escaped  to  bring  his  particular 
contribution  to  progress,  but  as  an  individual  only  and  not 
as  a  member  of  a  corporate  body,  of  a  missionary  people. 
And  while  in  Poland  it  was  the  conservatism  of  the  Jew 
which  impressed  Lubin,  when  he  looked  to  conditions  as 
he  knew  them  in  America  it  was  the  assimilative  character 
of  the  race  which  came  to  the  fore.  There  they  became 
Americans,  and  as  such  developed  their  special  abilities, 
"making  good"  in  a  variety  of  lines.  But  the  young  man, 
striving  to  find  his  bearings  in  order  to  steer  his  course  in 
life  with  firm,  unwavering  hand,  had  the  sensation  that  in 
both  countries  much  was  being  lost,  power  was  running  to 
waste;  in  neither  case  was  the  human  family  getting  the 
full  value  of  the  contribution  which  he  somehow  felt  his 
people  yet  could  and  should  bring  to  the  common  cause  of 
human  progress  and  improvement. 


FROM  INFANCY  TO  MANHOOD  37 

These  were  the  ideas  and  impressions  which,  in  the  midst 
of  the  multiple  activities  of  a  busy,  hard-working  life,  were 
growing  and  taking  shape,  stored,  so  to  speak,  in  "the  back 
of  the  mind"  of  David  Lubin  when  the  call  came  which  at 
last  gave  a  definite  direction  to  his  energies  and  started  him 
on  what  was  to  be  his  path  in  life.  His  sister  Jeannette 
had  lost  her  husband,  and  had  come  into  a  small  sum  of 
insurance  money  —  four  hundred  dollars  —  with  which  she 
decided  to  open  a  dry-goods  store  in  San  Francisco.  She 
sent  for  her  brother  Harry  to  help  in  this  venture,  and  he 
went  to  California.  She  now  proposed  that  David,  recently 
returned  from  his  European  journey,  should  also  invest  his 
meagre  savings  in  the  business  and  settle  down.  He  agreed 
to  do  so,  and  in  1874  he  joined  his  relatives  in  San  Francisco. 


CHAPTER  III 

PIONEEB  YEARS    IN   CALIFORNIA  :      THE  UPBUILDING 
OF  A   BUSINESS 

The  following  account  of  David  Lubin's  start  as  a  business 
man  and  merchant  is  taken  from  notes  of  the  story  as  he 
told  it  me  some  years  ago  in  Rome : 

In  1874  I  was  traveling  in  the  East  for  a  firm,  selling 
lamps,  copper  kettles,  and  other  specialties  in  hardware, 
when  I  received  one  day  in  New  York  a  letter  from  my  half- 
brother,  Harris  Weinstock,  who  was  then  living  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. He  told  me  of  an  opening  there,  and  urged  me  to 
come  on  and  join  him  in  a  dry -goods  store  he  was  starting 
mainly  with  some  insurance  money  my  sister  had  come  into. 
I  decided  to  put  my  savings  into  the  venture  and  go  into 
business  with  him.  Our  capital  all  told  did  not  exceed  six  hun- 
dred dollars.  We  opened  a  store  down  town,  on  Washington 
Street,  then  in  a  good  business  quarter,  doing  a  fair  class  of 
trade  for  those  days,  though  before  long  the  Chinese  began 
to  come  in  and  gradually  swamped  the  neighborhood. 
Those  were  times  of  big  prices  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  of  rapid 
fortunes,  and  big  failures.  It  was  the  custom  to  ask  tre- 
mendous sums  and  then  sell  for  what  you  could  get  —  eighty- 
five  dollars  for  a  suit  of  clothes,  say,  and  then  sell  it  for  four. 
No  change  under  "two  bits"  was  spoken  of,  and  a  "bit" 
was  12^  cents.  Coppers  were  not  taken ;  to  offer  them  was 
looked  upon  as  an  insult. 

Trade  was  done  in  those  days  by  standing  at  the  door  of 
your  store  and  inviting  in  customers  —  sailors  and  miners 
formed  a  goodly  percentage  of  the  motley  population  — 
and  then  you  would  "soak"  them  for  all  they  were  worth. 
It  was  the  old-world,  old-time  system  of  barter,  handed  down 
from  an  immemorial  past.  It  was  a  matter  of  bargaining 
and  haggling  over  prices  between  salesman  and  customer. 


PIONEER  YEARS  IN  CALIFORNIA  89 

in  which  the  latter  was  very  generally  worsted.  To  me  it 
was  hateful.  I  could  not  square  it  up  with  my  notions  of 
right  and  wrong,  and  I  made  a  poor  hand  at  the  business. 
I  was  hardly  worth  my  salt. 

I  remember  that  I  was  alone  one  day  in  the  store  when  a 
sailor  came  in.  I  had  been  doing  practically  nothing  for 
weeks  past,  and  was  dissatisfied  and  restless.  I  thought  I 
would  try  my  hand  and  see  what  I  could  do  as  a  salesman, 
and  I  did  quite  a  stroke  of  business  as  things  were  with  us, 
for  I  took  thirty  dollars  from  the  man,  handing  him  only  ten 
cents  change.  But  when  the  transaction  was  over  I  had 
made  up  my  mind.  It  was  wrong.  I  would  have  nothing 
more  to  do  with  it,  and  I  determined  that  I  would  start  for 
myself  on  the  basis  of  fixed  prices  on  all  goods,  marked  in 
plain  figures  so  that  all  could  read. 

I  set  out  to  find  a  place  to  start  in,  but  nothing  suitable  offered 
in  San  Francisco,  so  I  resolved  to  go  up  the  river  to  Sacra- 
mento and  see  what  chances  there  were  in  the  State  capital. 

I  went  by  boat,  landing  in  Sacramento  with  my  share  of 
the  stock,  and  pretty  poor  stuff  it  was  too.  After  looking 
around  I  found  a  place  I  thought  would  do,  on  a  corner  of 
K  Street,  above  a  basement  saloon.  It  was  about  10  ft. 
wide  by  12  ft.  deep,  separated  by  a  thin  partition  from  a 
Chinese  laundry.  I  occupied  one  half.  Under  me  was  the 
saloon ;  and  under  the  saloon  was  a  pool  of  stagnant  water. 
On  the  other  corner  there  was  another  saloon,  and  yet  an- 
other on  the  third  corner. 

Well,  I  settled  in  and  made  shelves  and  painted  them, 
set  up  a  counter  made  of  dry-goods  boxes  covered  with 
oilcloth,  and  hung  out  a  sign  "D.  Lubin,  one  price.** 
("Probably  the  first  'one  price*  sign  hung  out  in  America 
west  of  the  Mississippi,"  comments  Mr.  Jacob  Rubel  in  an 
article  written  after  Mr.  Lubin's  death.]  I  used  to  get  my 
meals  for  "two  bits'*  on  the  floor  above  me  where  there  was  a 
boarding  place,  and  a  sloppy  place  it  was  too.  I  rigged  up 
a  bunk  in  the  store,  under  the  counter,  and  slept  there.  It 
took  "some"  strength  to  take  it  apart  later  on;  it  was 
fastened  together  with  spikes  and  would  have  stood  the 
weight  of  an  ox,  let  alone  a  man.  I  had  a  straw  mattress 
and  turned  in  there  of  nights. 


40  DAVID  LUBIN 

I  can  assure  you  I  had  a  pretty  tough  time;  but  I  ran 
things  according  to  my  own  ideas  of  what  was  right,  and 
stuck  to  them ;  fixed  prices  marked  in  plain  figures,  and  no 
lying  as  to  the  quality  of  the  goods.  I  sold  clothing  of  all 
sorts,  mostly  to  the  miners  who  came  to  Sacramento  to  make 
their  purchases,  and  what  success  I  had  was  mainly  due  to 
an  improvement  I  invented  about  that  time  to  prevent 
overalls  splitting  open  (the  endless-fly  overall  I  called  it). 
I  used  to  sell  a  pair  of  overalls  with  this  improvement,  which 
I  patented,  for  75  cents,  and  as  the  nearest  to  these  in  quality 
were  the  "riveted"  overalls  which  were  sold  at  a  dollar  and  a 
quarter  and  were  not  nearly  so  strong,  my  invention  soon 
came  to  be  in  great  demand.  That  was  the  first  hit  I  made, 
and  it  was  about  time  too,  for  it  began  to  look  as  if  I 
should  have  to  send  down  to  San  Francisco  for  a  dollar  to 
keep  me  alive. 

My  system  of  fixed  prices  was  so  novel  that  it  was  not 
accepted  without  a  great  struggle.  I  remember  one  day  a 
great  big  chap  came  into  the  store  and  bought  quite  a  lot  of 
things,  perhaps  25  dollars'  worth ;  it  was  the  largest  piece  of 
business  I  had  done  in  one  go  since  I  started.  When  he 
had  done  buying  and  I  was  wrapping  up  the  goods,  he  noticed 
a  pocketknife  I  had  on  view  in  a  little  show  case  with  a  few 
other  things.  It  was  marked,  if  I  remember  right,  50  cents, 
and  he  wanted  me  to  throw  it  in  with  his  other  purchases. 
I  explained  to  him  that  I  could  not  do  so,  that  it  was  against 
the  principle  on  which  I  ran  the  store ;  that  if  I  gave  him  a 
knife  I  should  presently  have  to  give  presents  to  other  people, 
and  that  such  a  course  would  be  inconsistent  with  an  equi- 
table mode  of  doing  business.  He  still  insisted,  urging  that 
he  had  not  beat  me  down  a  cent  on  the  other  goods.  I  re- 
fused; then  he  said,  "All  right,  you  can  keep  yom*  damned 
traps,"  and  went  for  the  door.  "Very  well,"  I  replied,  and 
threw  the  parcels  on  the  shelf,  and  when  he  still  hung  about, 
wanting  to  haggle,  I  told  him  I  would  not  sell  them  to  him 
anyhow,  that  he  could  just  get  out  and  go  to  hell.  That 
was  the  rough  Arizona  talk  I  gave  him.  And  so  my  best 
customer  was  hustled  out.  He  went  right  enough ;  but 
pretty  soon,  while  I  was  at  lunch,  a  man  came  in  and  bought 
the  goods  of  my  relief  boy  who  usually  came  to  mind  the  store 


PIONEER  YEARS  IN  CALIFORNIA  41 

when  I  went  out.  He  bought  them  for  himself,  but  they 
went  to  that  big  chap,  all  right. 

On  the  Saturday  night  following,  as  I  was  getting  ready  to 
shut  up,  there  was  quite  a  rumble  on  the  board  sidewalk ; 
it  sounded  as  though  a  company  of  soldiers  were  marching 
up.  Pretty  soon  the  crowd  stopped  in  front  of  my  store 
and  for  a  moment  I  thought  there  was  going  to  be  a  fight. 
"There  he  is,"  their  leader  shouted  as  he  came  in,  pointing  to 
me ;  "he's  the  only  honest  storekeeper  in  Sacramento,  boys. 
Whatever  he  says  is  so.  Let's  buy  him  out."  It  was  the 
fellow  I  had  refused  to  dicker  with  a  few  days  before.  And 
sure  enough,  by  the  time  they  had  got  through  with  their 
purchases,  there  was  not  much  of  my  stock  left. 

Well,  the  big  chap  of  this  story  was  the  foreman  of  the 
boiler  shops  in  the  works  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad 
Company,  and  this  adventure  was  soon  noised  abroad.  It 
marked  the  turn  of  the  tide.  One  customer  would  bring 
others,  and  pretty  soon  I  needed  a  clerk.  When  he  came  I 
said  to  him,  "Do  you  lie?"  "No,"  says  he.  "Well,  just 
remember  this;  if  I  catch  you  lying  to  any  customer  of 
mine,  out  you  go."  One  day  I  caught  him  praising  up  some 
goods  to  a  woman,  saying  they  were  so  and  so.  "No," 
said  I,  "'tis n't  either;  that  is  poor  stuff,'*  right  out 
before  him.  I  would  n't  have  any  one  in  the  store  who  was 
going  to  lie  about  the  goods.  I  wanted  it  to  be  known 
throughout  Sacramento  as  a  place  for  fair  dealing.  If  a 
man  would  not  accept  the  coppers  given  him  in  change, 
as  frequently  happened  in  those  days,  they  were  thrown  in 
the  street  after  him. 

Soon  sales  began  to  go  up,  and  the  business  was  growing 
too  big  for  the  store.  Then  one  day  the  Chinamen  next  door 
played  a  gambling  game  long  into  the  night;  this  was 
nothing  unusual,  but  on  this  particular  occasion  they  seemed 
to  me  to  be  making  more  noise  than  usual,  and  I  could  not 
get  to  sleep.  I  was  terribly  mad  at  being  kept  awake  and 
pounded  on  the  partition  to  stop  them.  I  suppose  I 
pounded  pretty  hard,  and  in  my  anger  I  smashed  a  looking 
glass  on  my  side  and  at  last  broke  a  panel  through  and  found 
myself  in  the  Chinamen's  quarters.  The  next  morning 
they  summoned  me  and  I  went  into  court.     I  don't  know 


42  DAVID  LUBIN 

how  many  charges  they  had  against  me;  house-breaking, 
assault  and  battery,  and  what  not.  When  the  judge  asked 
me  what  I  had  to  say,  I  told  my  story  in  which  I  referred 
to  the  [gambling  that  was  going  on  in  the  adjoining  room, 
over  which  the  Chinamen  had  grown  so  excited.  "Ah," 
he  said,  "that  will  do.  Mr.  Lubin,  you  are  discharged." 
But  he  fined  the  Chinamen  fifty  or  sixty  dollars  for  gambling. 

The  landlord  came  round  that  day  with  a  great  tale  of 
how  I  was  robbing  him  of  his  tenants,  for  the  Chinamen  had 
resolved  to  move.  I  asked  him  what  they  paid  and  he  told 
me.  "I  will  give  you  that  for  the  room,"  I  said,  and  so  we 
knocked  down  the  partition  and  I  enlarged  my  store. 

That  was  how  I  started  business;  the  fundamental  idea 
was  the  same  that  I  am  now  working  on  in  the  International 
Institute  of  Agriculture ;  it  was  a  fight  then  for  fair  dealing 
between  individuals ;  it  is  now  a  fight  for  fair  dealing  be- 
tween nations. 

Thus  the  business  of  Weinstock  and  Lubin  started  forty- 
six  years  ago  in  Sacramento,  for  soon  David  was  joined  by 
his  partner  who  came  up  from  San  Francisco.  "We  started 
with  a  goodly  assortment  of  ethics,  but  with  an  indifferent 
stock  of  goods,"  Lubin  said  in  an  address  he  delivered  in 
February,  1916,  before  the  employees  of  the  firm  which  had 
grown  to  prosperity  out  of  such  small  beginnings.  "  The 
ethics  were  first-class ;  but  the  trouble  was  with  the  goods, 
which  consisted  mainly  of  a  few  dozen  overalls,  some  jumpers, 
some  red  flannel  overshirts,  some  cotton-flannel  shirts  and 
drawers,  some  cotton  handkerchiefs,  some  paper  collars, 
some  pocketknives,  some  collar  buttons,  etc.  The  greatest 
assortment  was  of  our  ethics. 

"Unfortunately  the  people  who  called  to  buy  knew  little 
or  nothing  of  ethics,  but  knew  very  much  about  beating 
down  the  price.  They  would  usually  begin  or  end  with  the 
sentence,  'I'll  tell  you  just  what  I'll  do  with  you.'  And  my 
answer  usually  was,  *No,  you  need  not  tell  me ;  you  will  do 
nothing  with  me ;  you  will  pay  the  price  that  is  marked  or 
nothing.'  And  again  they  would  start  in  to  tell  me  what 
they  would  do. 


PIONEER  YEARS  IN  CALIFORNIA  43 

"  *  You  are  not  here  to  conduct  this  business,  *  I  would  say. 
*You  are  here  to  buy  at  the  price  marked.  Buy  the  thing 
if  you  want  it  at  that  price ;  otherwise,  go,'  and  the  larger 
number  obeyed  my  injunction  and  went :  and  I  often  had  n't 
the  twenty-five  cents  per  meal  to  pay  the  boarding  mistress." 

Thus  it  came  about  that  these  two  young  men  set  to 
work  in  this  little  "Mechanic's  Store",  as  it  was  called,  to 
build  up  a  business  on  lines  then  quite  unknown  in  the 
West,  and  they  were  rewarded  by  rapid  success. 

In  all  his  activities  David  Lubin  showed  a  wonderful 
gift  of  intuition.  He  brought  his  keen  gifts  of  observation, 
deduction  and  generalization,  the  theories  and  thoughts  of 
the  philosophers  and  writers  whom  he  studied,  to  bear  on 
the  conditions  he  lived  among,  and  as  a  result  he  arrived 
at  conclusions  which  entitle  him  to  be  considered  a  pioneer 
in  reform  as  distinguished  from  a  Utopian  dreamer.  When 
he  would  first  broach  an  idea  or  a  proposal  his  mode  of  pres- 
entation would  often  take  his  listener  by  surprise,  indeed, 
quite  disconcert  him.  In  discussing  some  practical  business 
issue  where  nothing  but  practical  considerations  of  dollars 
and  cents,  profit  or  loss,  would  seem  to  be  involved,  Lubin 
would  go  back  to  first  principles  and  be  quite  capable  of 
quoting  as  authorities  Isaiah  or  Socrates  or  Cicero,  or  a 
medieval  worthy  whom  he  held  in  high  esteem,  Maimonides. 
He  would  talk  of  old  Rome,  or  of  the  People  of  Israel ;  and 
his  "practical"  listeners,  anxious  to  get  through  with  a 
"practical"  matter,  would  grow  impatient  and  be  inclined 
to  classify  him  as  an  impractical  theorist  or,  indeed,  a  "  bore." 
But  they  were  very  generally  wrong,  and  in  the  long  run  had 
to  acknowledge  it.  Lubin  was  simply  trying  to  get  at  the 
"innards"  of  the  question,  as  he  would  phrase  it,  despising 
empirical  conclusions  and  solutions,  and  trying  to  reason  the 
matter  out  from  cause  to  efifect,  trying  to  get  at  right  ways 
to  attain  the  desired  ends.  The  result  of  all  this  hard 
thinking  and  close  —  if  often  quaint  —  reasoning,  was  that 
the  movements  he  initiated,  though  frequently  ahead  of  the 
times  and  often  sneered  at  on  that  account,  were  truly  in 


44  DAVID  LUBIN 

keeping  with  real  needs.  They  were  nearly  always  taken 
up  and  carried  out  sooner  or  later,  often  without  due  credit 
being  given  the  initiator. 

Thus  it  was  in  the  bold,  aggressive  fight  for  a  new  mode 
of  doing  retail  business  which  he  made  in  the  little  town  of 
Sacramento  way  back  in  the  early  seventies.  He  was 
striving  to  put  into  practice  ideas  and  conclusions  which  had 
taken  root  in  his  mind  as  the  result  of  the  reading  he  had 
done  in  hours  snatched  from  sleep  or  recreation,  and  the 
hard  thinking  to  which  this  reading  had  given  rise.  His 
customers  would  doubtless  have  been  surprised  to  hear 
that  Herbert  Spencer,  or  John  Stuart  Mill,  or  the  Bible  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  one  price,  fair  dealing,  cash  payment 
system  he  was  trying  to  introduce,  but  though  they  might  not 
have  followed  the  reasoning  which  determined  his  policy, 
they  soon  saw  the  advantages  of  that  policy  as  it  affected 
them.  So  sound  were  the  lines  he  laid  down  for  his  business 
that  in  April,  1875,  he  was  able  to  state  in  an  advertisement 
he  drew  up : 

We  started  in  business  in  Sacramento  in  October  6th, 
1874,  at  100  K.  Street,  between  4th  and  5th,  with  two  cases 
of  merchandise  in  a  place  10  by  12,  and  as  we  were  not  over- 
burdened with  spare  cash  one  of  the  partners  of  this  firm 
hauled  the  lumber  himself,  and  placed  the  shelves  where  they 
now  are.  It  was  a  risky  undertaking,  but  we  wanted  to 
try  our  system,  which  we  herein  make  public,  for  the  benefit 
of  our  customers  and  our  contemporary  storekeepers  — 

1st.  To  buy  or  manufacture  our  goods  at  the  lowest 
market  prices,  and  always  be  on  the  lookout  for  extra 
chances,  if  goods  were  offered  lower  than  the  regular  market 
price. 

2d.  To  calculate  at  how  low  a  percentage  we  could  afford 
to  sell  them. 

3d.  Having  settled  that  point  to  mark  all  our  goods  with 
the  selling  price  in  plain  figures,  so  that  all  who  could  read 
figures  should  know  the  price  as  well  as  ourselves. 

4th.   Never  to  misrepresent  any  article  offered  for  sale. 

5th.   To  sell  at  one  price  only. 


PIONEER  YEARS  IN  CALIFORNIA  45 

By  adhering  strictly  to  the  above  rules  we  have  established 
a  reputation  that  no  business  house  should  be  ashamed  of ; 
and  our  trade  increased,  for  on  the  15th  of  November,  1874, 
we  had  to  push  back  ten  feet,  and  on  the  3rd  of  February 
another  ten  feet,  and  now  we  occupy  two  stores  —  or  six 
times  the  space  we  occupied  before  —  well  stocked  with 
sound,  saleable  goods,  bought  at  their  lowest  market  price, 
and  sold  at  their  real  value.  We  advise  our  older,  and  as 
they  call  themselves  smarter  merchants  to  do  as  we  do,  and 
they  will  have  no  occasion  to  say  that  in  '49  times  used  to  be 
flush  in  Sacramento,  but  since  the  railroad  came  here  trade 
has  gone  to  ruin  —  bear  in  mind,  old  fogies,  the  trade  is  here ! 
Turn  over  a  new  leaf  —  be  honest  —  learn  the  true  value  of 
goods,  and  do  not  misrepresent ;  and  do  not  lie  to  the  public ; 
and  sell  at  a  small  percentage,  and  you  will  soon  change 
your  opinion  of  Sacramento.  Let  the  public  bear  in  mind 
we  do  not  propose  to  sell  goods  at  half  price  nor  below  cost, 
but  at  the  lowest  price  the  goods  can  be  sold  at  —  and  at 
ONE  PRICE  only. 

The  reader  will  note  in  this  unusual  kind  of  advertisement, 
printed  in  the  local  Sacramento  Bee,  with  some  grammatical 
lapses  (though  Lubin  acquired  a  truly  remarkable  command 
of  language  and  of  forcible,  picturesque  expression,  he  re- 
mained all  his  life  somewhat  deficient  in  what  he  termed  the 
"tool  chest"  of  the  writer)  a  full  measure  of  the  enthusiasm 
and  crudity  of  youth,  as  well  as  of  the  hustling  aggressive 
spirit  of  a  Western  community  of  those  early  years ;  but  the 
note  of  self-assertion  was  justified  by  the  fact  that  the  writer 
meant  what  he  said  and  lived  up  to  it. 

While  Lubin  was  determined  to  make  a  success  of  his 
business  enterprise,  he  was  equally  determined  to  achieve 
that  success  only  by  rigid  adherence  to  the  most  scrupulous 
standards  of  integrity.  To  find  a  parallel  to  the  following 
anecdote,  which  I  relate  as  it  is  given  by  Colonel  Weinstock, 
one  must  go  to  the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

"At  that  time  our  young  firm  was  building  up  quite  a 
business  with  the  large  number  of  mechanics  employed  in 


46  DAVID  LUBIN 

the  local  railway  shops.  An  article  of  prime  importance 
to  these  workers  were  overalls,  which  they  wore  at  their 
tasks.  One  common  criticism  made  by  wearers  was  that  in 
hurriedly  putting  on  these  garments  the  worker  would  often 
run  his  foot  against  the  crotch  of  the  overall  which  would 
give  way,  causing  great  and  sometimes  embarrassing  rips. 

*'Lubin,  being  of  an  inventive  turn  of  mind,  took  these 
criticisms  to  heart,  and  devised  a  remedy  in  the  nature  of  a 
continuous  front  fly,  thus  making  the  accidents  complained 
of  practically  impossible.  Patent  rights  were  secured,  giving 
the  firm  the  exclusive  privilege  in  the  use  of  such  device. 

"An  active  publicity  campaign  was  begun  and  soon  this 
particular  style  of  overalls  had  the  lead  in  the  local  market. 
In  due  course  the  improvement  came  to  the  notice  of  a 
large  San  Francisco  manufacturer  who  saw  a  fortune  in  the 
idea  with  the  whole  country  available  as  a  possible  outlet. 

"One  day  this  great  manufacturer  put  in  an  appearance 
at  the  little  Sacramento  shop  and  said  he  was  interested  in 
the  overall  improvement,  and  would  like  to  buy  the  patent 
rights  for  the  United  States.     How  much  would  they  cost  ? 

"Lubin  and  I  went  into  executive  session.  It  was  a  great 
problem,  what  to  ask.  We  felt  that  we  should  not  ask  less 
than  $200  and  a  maximum  price  would  be  about  $400. 
Finally,  in  gross  ignorance  of  its  real  value,  we  compromised 
between  ourselves  on  the  sum  of  three  hundred  dollars,  which 
to  us  at  that  period  of  our  business  career  seemed  quite  a 
fortune. 

"With  much  hesitation  the  price  of  $300  was  quoted,  in 
great  fear  lest  the  prospective  buyer  would  turn  on  his  heel 
and  walk  out.  Imagine  our  surprise  when  without  a  word 
the  manufacturer  whipped  out  his  checkbook,  wrote  out  his 
check,  and  smilingly  handed  it  over  to  us.  The  transaction 
was  closed  in  a  flash.  The  buyer  was  serenely  happy,  and 
so  were  we.  Never  before  had  we  seen  so  much  money  in 
one  day. 

"Two  or  three  years  intervened.  The  far-sighted  manu- 
facturer was  doing  a  large  and  profitable  export  business  in 


PIONEER  YEARS  IN  CALIFORNIA  47 

those  overalls.  We  soon  realized  what  a  valuable  source  of 
profit  we  had  practically  given  away  for  a  song,  and  how  the 
retention  of  the  patent  rights  on  our  part  would  have  led 
to  an  early  fortune. 

"One  day  there  came  a  well-groomed  gentleman  who 
introduced  himself  as  an  attorney  from  San  Francisco. 
After  considerable  hemming  and  hawing  and  beating  about 
the  bush,  he  finally  made  to  us  the  astonishing  statement 
that  there  had  been  an  error  in  the  assignment  of  the  overall 
patent,  that  legally  the  rights  were  still  vested  in  us,  and  that 
he  was  at  our  mercy  in  the  matter.  He  had  been  sent  by 
the  San  Francisco  manufacturer  to  ascertain  at  what  price 
we  would  be  willing  to  make  a  reassignment  of  the  patent. 

"Here  was  a  golden  opportunity.  A  fortune  was  staring 
us  in  the  face.  In  our  ignorance  we  had  almost  given  away 
the  patent  rights.  Now  the  choice  was  open  either  to  exact 
a  large  sum  for  reassignment,  or  to  decline  to  reassign,  to 
market  the  improvement  ourselves  and  thus  enjoy  a  short 
cut  to  wealth. 

"Admittedly,  it  was  a  strong  temptation  to  get  rich  quick ; 
but  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  and  without  even 
stopping  to  consult  me,  Lubin  said  to  the  attorney  —  *  You 
ask  at  what  price  we  will  make  a  reassignment  of  the  patent 
rights.     The  answer  is,  there  is  no  price. ' 

"For  a  moment  the  lawyer's  face  dropped.  Continuing, 
Lubin  went  on  to  say,  'Your  client  bought  the  patent  in 
good  faith,  and  we  sold  it  to  him  in  good  faith.  We  do  not 
propose  to  take  advantage  of  any  mistake.  Hand  out  your 
document  and  it  will  be  cheerfully  signed,  without  one 
penny  of  additional  compensation.' 

"The  attorney  looked  as  though  he  could  be  knocked 
over  with  a  feather.  He  had  come  authorized  and  prepared 
to  pay  (if  need  be)  a  big,  fat  sum  to  get  the  signature  on  the 
dotted  line,  and  here  it  was  given  for  the  mere  asking.  Later 
he  acknowledged  that  if  all  business  transactions  were  con- 
ducted on  such  a  level,  the  occupation  of  the  legal  fraternity 
would  largely  be  gone.'* 


48  DAVID  LUBIN 

The  story  of  the  progressive  development  of  the  Sacra- 
mento business  can  be  read  in  the  advertisements  drawn  up 
by  Mr,  Lubin  during  these  early  years  of  struggle.  He  was 
in  charge  of  the  publicity  side  of  the  work  and  set  about  it 
in  characteristic  style.  He  had  very  definite  ideas  as  to 
what  advertising  should  be. 

"Let  the  advertising  man  remember  that  there  is  no  effort 
or  genius  necessary  to  make  slap -dash  statements ;  anybody 
can  do  that;  a  scrub  writer  can  dash  off  statements  about 
bricks,  religion,  suspenders,  astronomy,  hogs,  automobiles, 
houses,  bonds,  shirts,  or  anything.  ...  It  takes  more 
genius  to  tell  a  plain  statement  in  a  plain  way,  and  to  tell  it 
truthfully,  than  it  does  to  make  all  the  flashy  and  dashy 
style  that  has  ever  been  devised ;  and  as  for  effect,  there 
is  no  comparison  whatever,"  he  wrote  in  his  later  years 
in  going  over  this  subject  in  a  letter  to  his  son  Jesse. 

And  again,  in  a  letter  written  in  1910,  he  says,  "When 
reading  general  literature  you  should  have  your  'weather 
eye '  open  in  converting  the  sense  of  what  you  read  into  your 
everyday  affairs  of  business,  and  complementary  to  the  same 
all  the  suggestive  points  of  business  should  be  employed  in 
shaping  your  generalization  on  your  reading.  In  accordance 
with  same  I  wish  to  say  that  .  .  .  my  mind  was  arrested 
last  night  in  reading  on  the  subject  of  'dissipation  of  energy  ' 
by  this  paragraph:  'the  man  who  is  always  speaking  in  a 
loud,  shouting  voice  must  shout  very  much  louder  if  he  is 
to  excite  more  attention,  but  the  person  who  always  speaks 
in  a  low,  gentle  voice  has  only  to  raise  it  the  least  little  bit 
and  we  at  once  give  him  all  our  attention.'" 

These  were  the  reflections  of  a  man  who  had  been  through 
the  mill,  and  who  reviewed  the  situation  in  the  light  of  a 
life's  experience.  We  must  not  expect  to  find  the  same  de- 
tachment and  objectiveness  in  the  young  athlete  struggling 
to  make  headway  against  adverse  circumstance.  There  is 
a  note  of  aggressiveness  in  the  way  in  which  he  attacked  the 
"grabbers",  as  he  called  his  business  rivals  who  resorted 
to  modes  of  trade  which  he  condemned,  which  does  not  en- 


PIONEER  YEARS  IN  CALIFORNIA  49 

tlrely  reflect  this  philosophic  serenity,  this  "sweet  reasonable- 
ness." But,  right  from  the  start,  in  his  advertisements  as 
in  his  mode  of  effecting  sales,  David  Lubin  strove  for  truth. 
In  his  descriptions  of  goods  he  made  none  but  plain  straight- 
forward statements  which  he  could  prove.  There  is  no 
undue  emphasis,  no  "cracking  up"  his  wares.  Emphasis 
comes  in  when  he  gets  on  the  subject  of  the  fundamental 
principles  to  which  he  pinned  his  faith.  On  that  subject 
he  speaks,  nay,  shouts  in  no  uncertain  tones ;  and  in  his 
hands  the  advertising  columns  of  a  small  provincial  news- 
paper became  a  pulpit  from  which  he  preached  the  doctrine 
of  honest  business. 

In  his  business  activities,  as  in  all  other  phases  of  his  life 
work,  Lubin  was  full  of  the  missionary  spirit.  He  wanted  to 
get  on  and  to  make  a  success  of  his  store,  but  he  also,  and 
more  especially,  wanted  to  educate  himself  and  to  educate 
others  in  the  principles  of  rightness,  of  "righteousness." 

The  advertisements  which  he  drew  up  were  often  more  in 
the  nature  of  a  proclamation  of  principles  and  a  challenge 
to  all  concerned  than  an  advertisement  of  goods.  The 
following  from  a  Sacramento  paper  sets  forth  in  clear,  char- 
acteristic way  the  basic  idea  underlying  Lubin's  economic 
activities  in  his  store,  on  his  farm,  and  in  his  international 
work: 

WE  WILL  NOT   SUBMIT  TO   UNJUST  TAXATION! 

This  was  the  Watchword  that  created  the  greatest  Republic 
in  the  World.  But  are  not  the  majority  of  the  people  taxed 
heavier  than  before  the  Great  Revolution  ?  We  do  not  mean 
politically  but  individually.  The  Tyrannical  Tax  Collectors 
owe  allegiance  to  no  Government.  Each  one  of  the  Ty- 
rants runs  a  tax-collecting  mill  on  his  own  account.  They 
collect  more  unjust  taxes  from  the  people  than  all  the  State, 
County,  and  City  taxes  put  together.  Their  motto  is 
Grab  —  grab  all  you  can  —  none  are  exempt  from  the 
clutches  of  their  claws. 

The  boy  in  buying  his  marbles  or  jackknife,  the  girl  in 
buying  a  doll  or  toy,  the  young,  the  old,  the  rich,  the  poor. 


50  DAVID  LUBIN 

the  close,  the  liberal  are  all  taxed  alike  by  the  accommodating 
Grabber,  and  still  the  Grabbers  call  themselves  Merchants. 
Merchants  indeed !  What  a  base  meaning  the  word  mer- 
chant would  have  if  this  were  true !  When  the  principal 
stock  in  trade  of  a  Merchant  would  be  to  be  a  continual  Liar  ! 

And  the  writer  goes  on  to  describe  some  of  the  more  com- 
mon dishonest  trade  practices  of  the  day  and  place,  and  once 
more  to  lay  down  the  sound  business  principles  which  have 
now  come  to  be  almost  universally  accepted  if  not  equally 
universally  practiced. 

The  style  of  these  advertisements  is  not  so  novel  now  as  it 
was  forty  years  ago ;  it  has  been  imitated,  and  the  imitations 
are  pretty  generally  parodies,  for  they  simulate  apostolic 
fervor  in  order  to  sell  goods,  whereas  with  Lubin  the  fervor 
was  genuine.  His  purpose  was  not  only  to  sell  his  wares 
but  also  to  educate  his  readers  to  standards  of  business 
morality  which  he  conceived  of  as  a  spoke  in  the  wheel  of 
the  great  Righteousness  he  aspired  after.  Psychologically, 
too,  he  was  right  in  his  mode  of  address.  To  be  one  of  a 
chorus  shouting  at  the  public  to  come  to  your  own  particular 
store  to  buy  "shoes,  hats,  valise,  cheap  for  cash"  attracts 
no  special  attention.  To  make  confidants  of  the  public, 
so  that  they  come  to  be  interested  not  only  in  your  merchan- 
dise but  also  in  your  mode  of  doing  business  and  to  make 
them  realize  that  under  that  mode  your  interests  and 
theirs  are  not  antagonistic  but  parallel,  is  to  make  of  them 
staunch  friends  and  faithful  customers. 

While  he  and  his  partner  were  building  up  for  themselves 
a  large  and  profitable  business,  David  Lubin  was  also 
steadfastly  pursuing  an  ideal,  and  that  ideal  was  to  reduce 
to  a  minimum  the  friction  in  exchange,  to  do  away  with 
"unjust  taxation"  in  the  economic  as  well  as  in  the  political 
sphere.  The  following  quotation  from  a  letter  written  in 
his  later  years  sets  forth  the  point  of  view  which  he  held 
through  life : 

You  and  I  have  heard  time  and  again  that  the  farmer 
and  the  man  in  the  factory,  commonly  denominated  pro- 


PIONEER  YEARS  IN   CALIFORNIA  51 

ducers,  are  very  much  praised,  while  merchants  and  traders 
in  the  same  breath  are  condemned  and  sometimes  called 
parasites.  Herbert  Spencer  shows  the  fallacy  of  such  claims. 
If  there  be  merit  in  distinction  it  should,  in  my  opinion, 
go  to  the  man  of  exchange,  the  trader,  the  merchant;  but 
when?  Only  when  the  friction  of  exchange,  the  profits,  are 
reduced  by  their  efforts  to  their  lowest  denomination ;  and 
doubly  meritorious  is  this  exchange  when  the  merchant  has 
skill  and  employs  it  at  both  ends,  in  buying  and  selling.  He 
then  truly  becomes  a  blessing  to  the  social  system.  .  .  . 

The  world  will  presently  begin  to  understand  that  real 
usury  does  not  so  much  consist  in  contracts  for  interest,  as 
it  does  in  incompetency  as  a  trader.  The  trader  who  pays 
too  much,  the  trader  who  charges  too  much,  and  the  trader 
who  gives  inferior  goods  is  the  real  usurer,  the  real  enemy  of 
mankind.  Conversely,  the  trader  who  buys  at  the  lowest 
price,  who  sells  at  the  lowest  price,  and  who  buys  and  sells 
only  sound  goods,  is  a  blessing,  a  blessing  to  himself  and  a 
blessing  to  all  with  whom  he  does  business.  Such  a  trader 
is  neither  a  parasite  nor  at  all  inferior  in  social  economy  to 
the  farmer  or  the  workman.  If  anything  at  all,  he  is  their 
superior. 

To  reduce  friction  in  exchange  to  a  minimum,  so  that 
the  middleman,  the  merchant,  the  dealer,  the  banker  act 
as  the  lubricant  which  eases  the  workings  of  the  social 
machine,  insuring  smooth  running,  and  not  as  the  toll-taker, 
the  usurer,  the  "profiteer",  this  was  the  phase  of  economics 
to  which  Lubin  devoted  his  life.  He  firmly  believed  not 
only  that  there  was  a  legitimate  sphere  for  the  "middleman" 
but  that  the  duties  he  performed  were  of  the  highest  social 
value,  on  condition,  however,  that  he  acted  as  a  means  not 
of  wasting  but  of  economizing  energy. 

"  The  merchant,"  he  said  in  the  address  from  which  we 
have  already  quoted,  "who  conducts  his  business  properly 
is  the  man  who  reduces  the  rough  angles  in  exchange.  In 
substance,  he  takes  the  product  of  the  labor  of  the  carpenter 
and  exchanges  it  for  the  product  of  the  labor  of  the  shoe- 
maker;  the  product  of  the  farmer  with  the  product  of  the 


62  DAVID  LUBIN 

tailor;  and  so  along  the  entire  line  of  production  and  dis- 
tribution —  not  merely  the  production  and  the  distribution 
of  his  own  locality,  but  in  widely  extended  areas ;  sometimes 
expanding  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  The  merchant  who  per- 
ceives and  rectifies  the  waste  and  loss  in  the  process  of  ex- 
change, so  that  shoemaker  Thomas  receives  the  full  measure 
of  equity  in  exchanging  the  product  of  his  labor  for  the 
product  of  the  labor  of  teamster  Brown  is  doing  work  of  high 
moral,  economic  and  political  value.  More  than  that;  a 
properly  conducted  business  is  of  almost  as  high  value  as 
a  church,  an  altar.  But  on  the  contrary,  an  improperly 
conducted  business  is  a  place  of  inequity  and  iniquity.  A 
properly  conducted  business  works  for  the  general  welfare, 
for  civilization;  whereas  the  improperly  conducted  busi- 
ness pulls  downward  to  injustice  and  barbarism.  ...  It 
took  the  barbarous  peoples  centuries  and  centuries  to  devise 
the  rudest  form  of  exchange ;  and  even  to-day,  in  this  twen- 
tieth century,  and  in  this  great  civilized  nation,  we  have  very 
much  to  learn  before  we  will  have  'Exchange'  as  just  and 
as  equitable  as  the  Prophets  of  the  Bible  wanted  it  to  be." 

As  the  Sacramento  business  developed  it  had  to  meet  a 
condition  diametrically  opposed  to  the  principles  on  which 
it  was  founded,  and  that  condition  was  the  "jobber." 

Weinstock  and  Lubin  were  doing  a  strictly  cash  business 
with  a  small  margin  of  profit ;  to  carry  out  this  policy  suc- 
cessfully they  needed  to  buy  for  cash  in  the  cheapest  market, 
i.e.  direct  from  the  manufacturer.  But  in  1874  this  was  an 
innovation  which  a  small  man  could  only  make  at  the  cost 
of  much  effort  and  no  small  risk.  The  young  merchant 
who  had  boldly  put  out  the  first  "One  Price"  sign  west  of 
the  Mississippi  took  a  pioneer  part  in  this  fight  with  the 
jobber  in  merchandise. 

In  these  early  days  David  Lubin  used  himself  to  go  East 
to  buy  for  his  store,  and  it  was  his  energy  which  found  the 
means  to  break  through  the  barriers  and  get  in  touch  with 
the  manufacturer. 

In  August,  1877,  two  years  and  ten  months  after  its  humble 


PIONEER  YEARS  IN  CALIFORNIA  53 

start,  the  Mechanic's  Store  was  well  on  its  way  to  becoming 
—  what  it  has  remained  ever  since  —  an  institution  rather 
than  a  store  for  Sacramento.  Its  premises  had  to  be  con- 
stantly enlarged  as  its  activities  expanded,  and  in  one  of 
his  characteristic  advertisements  Lubin  was  able  truth- 
fully to  state : 

"Justice  is  our  sole  guide  in  business.  Our  rules  are  made 
in  strict  accordance  with  the  strict  laws  of  justice,  and  shall 
always  adhere  to  them.  By  doing  justice  to  the  sharper, 
justice  to  the  ignorant,  justice  to  the  clever,  justice  to  the 
simple,  justice  to  the  young,  justice  to  the  old,  we  have 
succeeded  in  establishing  the  Largest  Retail  Business  in 
Sacramento,  and  a  reputation  second  to  none  on  the  Pacific 
Coast." 

Meantime  the  firm's  activities  were  spreading  beyond 
Sacramento;  they  had  become  State- wide,  and  more  than 
that.  By  the  careful  and  minute  attention  to  detail  and 
routine  which  was  one  of  his  characteristics,  Lubin  was 
building  up  a  new  form  of  business,  the  Mail  Order  House. 

The  firm  was  now  becoming  an  employer  of  labor  on  quite 
a  considerable  scale,  and  as  functions  began  to  differentiate, 
the  propaganda  and  labor  side  of  the  business  became  Lubin's 
particular  sphere  of  activity. 

Here  in  his  own  words  is  an  account  of  the  modes  he 
employed  in  training  his  staff : 

One  of  our  most  difficult  tasks  was  to  teach  the  em- 
ployees to  tell  the  simple  truth.  At  that  time  misrepresent- 
ing and  lying  was  the  normal  process  in  buying  and  selling. 
Let  me  illustrate  one  mode  of  teaching. 

Say  a  boy,  Charlie,  came  up  to  my  office,  sent  there 
through  a  complaint  of  the  Head  of  the  Department. 

"  Charlie,  I  am  told  that  you  have  been  a  bad  boy.  Is  it 
true?" 

;;No,  Sir." 

"But  here  are  the  charges,  Charlie;  you  hav^  done  thus 
and  so." 

"No,  I  have  not." 


54  DAVID  LUBIN 

"Charlie,  who  is  your  boss?" 

"You  are,  Sir." 

"I  don't  think  so ;  try  again." 

"Mr.  Weinstock." 

"Try  again." 

"The  superintendent." 

"Try  again." 

"The  Head  of  the  Department." 

"Try  again." 

"The  printed  rules." 

"Try  again." 

"I  can't." 

"Now  come  over  to  this  table  and  sit  down  here  and  I 
shall  draw  something,  and  you  will  tell  me  what  it  is.  What 
is  it,  Charlie.?" 

"It  is  a  can,  like  a  kerosene  can." 

"  We  will  fill  it  up  with  kerosene ;  now  what  is  it  filled  with  ?  " 

"Kerosene." 

"And  now  let  us  run  the  kerosene  out.  What  is  the  can 
filled  with?" 

"Nothing." 

"No,  it  is  filled  with  something." 

"It  is  filled  with  air." 

"Now,  watch;  let  us  fill  it  with  ink  until  it  comes  up  to 
the  top.     What  is  the  can  filled  with  ?  " 

"Filled  with  ink." 

"And  now  let  the  ink  run  out.  What  is  the  can  filled 
with?" 

"Filled  with  air." 

Then  I  continue  drawing,  converting  the  can  into  the  head 
of  a  boy. 

"What  is  it  now?" 

"The  head  and  face  of  a  boy." 

"Now  let  us  pour  something  into  this  head.  Let  that 
something  be  ideas.  Let  us  pour  the  ideas  into  the  head 
through  the  eyes.  Let  us  pour  into  the  head  nasty  ideas. 
What  will  the  head  be  filled  with?" 

"Nasty  ideas." 

"Now  let  us  clean  the  head  out  and  pour  in  good  ideas. 
What  is  the  head  filled  with?" 


PIONEER  YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA  55 

"Good  ideas." 

"Let  us  pour  that  out  and  put  in  some  good  and  some 
bad  ideas.     What  will  the  head  be  filled  with  ?" 

"The  head  will  be  filled  with  good  ideas  and  bad  ideas.'* 

"Do  you  now  begin  to  understand  who  is  really  your 
boss?" 

"I  think  so,  Sir;  I  think  it  is  my  ideas.'* 

"If  you  pour  good  ideas  into  your  head,  what  will  you 
be.?" 

"A  good  man,  Sir.** 

"And  bad  ideas?" 

"A  bad  man." 

"Who  then  is  your  real  boss?** 

"My  ideas." 

"  Then  it  makes  a  very  important  difference  as  to  whether 
you  put  good  ideas  or  bad  ideas  into  your  head?" 

"Yes." 

"And  now  let  me  ask  you  another  question.  Whom  do 
you  cheat  first  when  you  are  doing  wrong?" 

"Myself." 

"Why?" 

"Because  it  would  be  putting  bad  ideas  into  my  head  and 
making  me  poorer." 

"Do  you  now  understand  who  is  your  boss?" 

"  Yes,  Sir,  I  am  my  own  boss ;  my  ideas  are  my  boss.  And 
I  must  think  properly  and  act  properly  in  order  to  get  my 
head  filled  with  good  ideas." 

"And  so,  Charlie,  you  see  that  your  boss  is  your  own  soul, 
and  that  it  is  wonderful  but  it  is  true  that  the  laws  that 
govern  your  thoughts  are  as  real  as  the  law  that  moves  the 
earth." 

It  will  be  readily  understood  that  teaching  of  this  order, 
saved  from  the  blight  of  preachy  "tall  talk"  by  the  quaint- 
ness  of  the  mode  employed  and  by  the  unaflFected  directness 
and  sincerity  of  the  teacher,  was  no  small  factor  in  the  up- 
building of  the  business;  a  business  which  Lubin  was  de- 
termined should  not  only  bring  him  material  rewards,  but 
should  prove  a  blessing  to  all  who  worked  for  it ;  they  were 
not  to  be  just  his  employees,  but  were  to  feel  themselves 


56  DAVID  LUBIN 

servants  in  a  service  to  the  community  of  which  they  were 
part. 

How  well  he  succeeded  in  this  aim  can  be  realized  by  talk- 
ing with  those  who  entered  his  employ  in  the  early  days, 
some  of  whom  are  still  at  the  "old  stand"  in  Sacramento. 
**  There  were  no  eight-hour  days  in  those  times,"  one  of  these 
said,  in  talking  to  me.  "Business  hours  were  from  7.15  a. m. 
to  10  P.M.,  but  we  enjoyed  every  minute  of  it ;  work  was  no 
hardship.  We  loved  the  store  and  the  spirit  that  pervaded 
it;  we  were  made  to  feel  that  we  were  part  of  it,  that  its 
success  was  our  success ;  and  if  we  worked  hard,  Mr.  Lubin 
worked  harder  still.  And  he  was  very  considerate;  for 
instance,  he  required  all  of  us  juniors  under  eighteen  to 
attend  classes  which  he  organized  for  us  during  some  of  the 
working  hours  each  week,  and  those  girls  who  were  not  called 
for  by  relatives  were  always  sent  home  at  night  in  a  con- 
veyance specially  provided  for  this  purpose,  in  charge  of  a 
chaperone.     No  other  employer  thought  of  such  things." 

I  remember  a  lady  coming  to  me  in  Rome  one  day  and 
exclaiming :  "What  a  wonderful  man  Mr.  Lubin  must  be." 
She  had  called  at  the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture 
to  see  him,  and  had  there  met  an  American,  to  her  a  total 
stranger,  who  had  come  on  the  same  errand.  Finding  Lubin 
out,  they  had  dropped  into  conversation.  The  man,  then 
president  of  a  great  American  railroad,  had  told  her  that  he 
owed  everything  in  life  to  Lubin;  that  he  had  entered  his 
employ  as  a  boy,  and  attributed  his  success  entirely  to  the 
training  he  had  then  received,  to  the  personal  attention  and 
helpful  interest  which  had  developed  his  abilities  and  afforded 
him  scope  to  rise. 

Another  such  instance  is  that  of  a  minister  who  began 
life  as  clerk  to  Weinstock  and  Lubin.  Always  fond  of 
metaphysical  discussions,  Lubin  had  not  failed  to  note  a 
similar  taste  in  this  employee;  he  considered  him  gifted 
and  found  that  his  vocation  was  for  the  church,  but  that 
circumstances  did  not  allow  him  to  make  the  requisite 
studies;     so,    with    characteristic    generosity,    he    himself 


PIONEER  YEARS  IN  CALIFORNIA  57 

helped  to  meet  the  expense  of  training  the  young  man  in  a 
theological  seminary,  enabling  him  to  become  in  due  time 
a  respected  and  successful  Baptist  minister. 

And  here  it  may  be  of  interest  to  give  some  idea  of  Lubin's 
position  in  relation  to  labor  matters.  He  was  all  his  life 
long  what  is  termed  a  "progressive"  employer;  the  love  of 
justice,  the  high  standard  of  integrity  which  were  his  were, 
of  course,  exemplified  in  his  relations  with  his  employees. 

These  relations  were  also  essentially  democratic.  Lubin 
was  a  great  believer  in  parliamentary  modes  of  procedure, 
in  the  value  of  council,  in  debate  and  criticism,  and  he  car- 
ried these  ideas  into  his  practical  dealings  with  those  in  his 
employ.  Before  coming  to  a  decision  in  any  matter  he  would 
hear  all  sides,  encouraging  those  in  the  more  humble  as  well 
as  in  superior  capacities  to  express  their  views  freely.  He 
would  as  willingly  consult  the  cash  boy  or  the  porter  as  the 
head  of  a  department.  Accuracy  in  statement,  soundness 
in  argument,  ability  in  generalization  were  the  qualities  he 
most  prized,  and  these  he  wished  should  prevail,  whoever 
might  be  their  exponent.  "As  smoke  to  the  eye  and  vin- 
egar to  the  teeth  are  glittering  generalities  with  no  specific 
facts  behind  them,"  he  would  often  say. 

In  bringing  in  subordinates  to  take  part  in  such  discus- 
sions his  first  wish  was  that  they  should  feel  entirely  at 
their  ease,  sit  down  and  make  themselves  comfortable,  and 
for  this  purpose  he  would  insist  on  comfortable  chairs,  a 
cigar  maybe,  and  a  free  and  easy  exchange  of  thought.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  would  be  decidedly  disconcerting  to 
those  unaccustomed  to  his  ways.  He  disliked  mere  ac- 
quiescence or  any  attempt  to  take  a  lead  from  him  and  fit 
answers  accordingly.  He  would  look  the  ofiFender  through 
and  through  with  keen,  unflinching  eyes,  and  pounce  down 
with  some  unexpected  inquiry  or  comment  which  would 
throw  him  or  her  quite  off  the  track.  The  nervous  or  the 
timid  might  well  dread  such  an  ordeal,  but  as  Lubin  never 
desired  to  browbeat  or  intimidate,  and  was  only  harsh  on 
the  insincere  or  "slazy"    (as  he  would  phrase  it)  reasoner 


58  DAVID   LUBIN 

and  not  on  the  shy  or  slow-witted,  he  could  and  would  be 
gentle  and  very  patient  if  he  once  realized  the  situation. 

He  attached  the  utmost  importance  to  careful  training 
of  the  eye  and  hand  as  well  as  of  the  brain,  and  was  a  strict 
disciplinarian.  Work  was  work  and  play  was  play ;  he 
believed  in  going  in  for  both  whole-heartedly,  but  in  keeping 
them  strictly  apart.  Yet  he  never  thought  time  wasted  in 
argument  on  essential  points,  even  if  lengthy,  and  he  greatly 
encouraged  independent  thinking  among  his  employees. 

Lubin  always  maintained  that  so-called  "cheap"  labor 
is  the  most  expensive ;  he  was  a  firm  believer  in  high  wages 
for  good  service.  He  liked  to  see  men  rise  from  the  ranks, 
and  granted  rapid  promotion  for  ability.  He  believed  in 
competition  as  a  driving  force  for  progress ;  but  while  he 
was  certainly  not  a  collectivist  neither  was  he  an  absolute 
individualist.  Writing  on  this  subject  in  December,  1910, 
to  a  correspondent  he  says : 

The  question  remains,  on  what  line  should  this  work  be 
done?  Should  it  be  on  the  line  of  Collectivism.'^  Should 
it  be  on  the  line  of  Individualism?  As  well  let  one  say  of 
color,  let  it  be  red ;  and  another  one,  let  it  be  blue.  In  the 
scheme  of  color  we  need  not  alone  the  cardinal  tints  but  the 
shades  as  well.  And  so  in  the  affairs  of  the  social  structure. 
We  need  socialistic  Collectivism,  and  we  need  Individua- 
lism, but  not  as  separate  isms.  These  two  are  merely  parts 
of  a  structure,  of  the  social  structure.  As  in  a  great  machine 
shop  if  there  be  crooked  shafting,  journals  too  tight  or  too 
loose,  untrue  pulleys,  and  imperfect  belting  it  will  be  no 
marvel  to  find  the  shop  on  the  road  to  bankruptcy,  so  in 
the  social  structure  there  is  the  same  problem,  how  to 
straighten  out,  how  to  justify,  how  to  perfect. 

For  sentimentality  he  had  no  use,  and  he  was  skeptical 
as  to  the  value  of  so-called  "social  uplift"  and  "welfare" 
work.  Inasmuch  as  it  patronized  he  believed  it  degraded ; 
at  best  it  was  ladling  out  with  a  spoon  the  water  steadily 
flowing  into  a  leaking  boat.  Justice,  not  charity,  he  believed 
to  be  the  true  relation  between  employer  and  employed. 


PIONEER  YEARS  IN  CALIFORNIA  59 

He  was  firmly  convinced  that  social  justice  in  the  eco- 
nomic sphere  can  only  be  assured  by  a  "balance  of  power", 
and  for  this  reason  he  believed  in  offsetting  the  organizations 
of  finance  and  commerce  by  labor  organizations,  trade 
unions,  and  so  forth,  and  he  was  undismayed  by  the  use  of 
the  strike  as  an  economic  weapon. 

The  following  quotation  from  a  letter  he  wrote  in  1888 
when  visiting  Spain  sets  forth  his  point  of  view  on  this 
.question : 

From  what  I  have  observed  here  I  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  this  new  axiom  may  be  added  to  the  list  of 
"old  saws"  :  "Blessed  is  the  land  that  has  a  labor  question 
and  has  labor  troubles."  I  know  that  there  are  many  who 
fear  and  do  not  wish  to  see  labor  agitations  in  our  country, 
but  it  is  an  undeniable  fact  that  through  the  medium  of 
labor  agitations  we  owe  much  of  our  standing  as  a  nation  of 
freemen  and  a  people  of  progress.  The  price  of  labor  de- 
termines the  physical,  intellectual  and  spiritual  welfare  of  a 
people,  and  a  land  where  there  is  no  labor  question,  no  labor 
troubles,  no  labor  agitation,  is  dead  and  the  people  are 
starving  slaves.  Spain  has  no  labor  question,  and  the 
laborer  has  no  choice  but  to  accept  the  miserable  few  coppers 
a  day  for  his  toil. 

He  was  extremely  skeptical  of  all  efforts  to  make  arbi- 
tration compulsory;  he  believed  them  foredoomed  to  fail- 
ure and  rightly  so,  for  he  considered  such  legislation  essen- 
tially undemocratic. 

Of  the  socialist  state  as  advocated  by  the  followers  of 
Karl  Marx  he  had  the  most  profound  distrust.  He  con- 
ceived it  as  essentially  a  vast,  centralized  bureaucracy ;  an 
eater  and  not  a  producer  of  wealth ;  an  instrument  for  the 
protection  of  mediocrity ;  crushing  all  initiative  and  enter- 
prise ;  by  nature,  parasitic.  He  believed  that  the  perpetual 
struggle  of  forces  in  the  economic  world  is  the  only  means  of 
progress,  but  for  that  struggle  to  be  fruitful  knowledge  must 
replace  ignorance ;  chaos  must  give  way  to  order ;  anarchy 
to  the  higher  synthesis  of  forces.     He  was  a  strong  believer 


60  DAVID  LUBIN 

in  cooperation  as  a  check  on  excessive  individualism,  in 
organization  as  a  corrective  to  excessive  competition,  and 
above  all  and  before  all  he  believed  in  democracy,  which  he 
derived  as  a  direct  consequence  of  the  religious  ideals  which 
were  his. 

As  we  look  back  on  these  opening  years  of  David  Lubin's 
career  we  ask  ourselves  what  it  was  that  differentiated  him 
from  his  compeers,  that  justifies  us  in  looking  upon  him  as  a 
man  apart.  Not  his  enterprise.  We  need  only  think  of 
the  extraordinary  and  rapid  development  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  States  to  see  that  there  was  no  lack  of  enterprise, 
and  of  a  high  order,  in  that  community;  enterprise  which 
was  constantly  making  itself  manifest  on  a  gigantic  scale. 
Those  were  days  when,  as  I  have  heard  Mr.  Lubin  tell,  a 
dry-goods  man,  Mr.  Crocker,  a  grocer,  Leland  Stanford, 
and  two  hardware  men,  C.  P.  Huntington  and  J.  Hopkins, 
met  in  a  back  parlor  in  Sacramento  and  planned  —  and, 
what  was  more,  carried  out  —  the  building  of  a  transcon- 
tinental railway.  Their  achievement  was  rivaled  by  those 
of  others  in  other  fields.  Enterprise,  daring,  intelligence 
and  energy  were  not  rare  qualities  in  California.  Nor  was 
a  high  standard  of  honor  and  integrity  enough  to  set  him 
as  a  man  apart ;  Lubin  had  no  monopoly  in  these  qualities. 
Nor  was  it  his  success ;  others  were  achieving  equally  rapid 
and  much  greater  success,  if  success  be  measured  by  money 
returns. 

Rather  was  it  the  consciousness  of  a  purpose  more  than 
his  own,  a  purpose  which  guided  his  actions,  making  him 
use,  as  a  step  in  the  ladder  of  Service,  the  sphere  of  ac- 
tivities which  circumstances  had  made  his. 

Circumstances,  not  nature;  I  think  all  who  knew  David 
Lubin  intimately  must  often  have  been  struck  by  the  incon- 
gruity between  himself  and  his  surroundings.  The  rough 
life  in  Arizona,  in  contact  with  the  bed-rock  realities  and  mys- 
teries of  life;  later  on  the  forum  of  the  social  reformer  or 
even  the  pulpit  of  the  impassioned  preacher;  and,  as  his 
ideas  reached  maturity,  the  council  room  of  the  statesman 


PIONEER  YEARS  IN  CALIFORNIA  61 

would  have  been  the  congruous  environment  for  such  a 
personality.  But  here  was  a  prophet  and  a  reformer  set 
down  in  a  dry-goods  store  to  purchase  and  sell  shirts  and 
pants  and  suspenders,  ribbons  and  dresses  and  bonnets  for 
the  good  people  of  Sacramento.  Nothing  daunted,  he  made 
of  his  store  a  pulpit,  —  and  a  much  more  effective  one  than  if 
he  had  addressed  a  church  congregation,  for  here  the  sermon 
was  preached  in  deeds  as  well  as  words;  and  he  made  the 
experience  acquired  in  buying  and  selling  a  textbook  in 
which  he  studied  world  economics  to  better  purpose  than  if 
he  had  been  in  the  studious  seclusion  of  a  university ;  and 
from  the  first  he  looked  upon  the  fortune  he  was  making 
not  as  an  end  in  itself  but  as  a  means  which  was  to  enable 
him  to  perform  the  larger  Service  of  which  he  even  then 
dreamed,  and  which  he  wished  to  fit  himself  to  perform  with 
that  entire  disinterestedness  which  is  only  possible  to  the 
ascetic  saint  (and  this  he  emphatically  was  not)  or  to  the 
man  of  means. 

It  was  the  strong  conviction,  for  long  periods  only  latent 
but  always  there,  instilled  into  him  from  his  earliest  years, 
the  conviction  that  he  had  received  a  call  to  Service,  which 
made  him  a  man  apart  and  set  the  distinctive  mark  on 
him  when  compared  to  other  equally  enterprising,  equally 
honorable,  and  equally  successful  men.  It  was  his  almost 
feminine  gift  of  intuition  and  sensitiveness  to  the  emotion 
of  the  ideal.  Again  the  desire  which  guided  his  actions 
was  to  return  a  blessing  for  every  curse,  for  every  blow  a 
benefit. 

Let  me  conclude  by  quoting  again  from  the  address  with 
which  he  may  be  said  to  have  closed  his  business  activities 
when,  in  February,  1916,  he  visited  for  the  last  time  his 
store  in  Sacramento : 

What  is  the  function  of  a  merchant?  If  he  is  not  able 
to  be  a  blessing  he  has  no  more  right  to  be  a  merchant  than 
a  hog  has  to  be  a  merchant.  Every  stone,  every  brick,  every 
piece  of  shelving,  every  piece  of  goods  within  the  boundary 
of  the  merchant's  domain  must  be  the  result  of  conscientious, 


62  DAVID  LUBIN 

intelligent,  and  painstaking  labor.  Otherwise  all  that  he 
has  is  a  witness  against  him  for  destruction.  Shall  the 
farmer  be  designated  "Nature's  nobleman"  simply  because 
he  can  plant  and  harvest  wheat,  potatoes  and  onions? 
And  shall  not  a  merchant  be  deemed  Nature's  nobleman 
when,  through  the  labors  of  his  business,  he  creates  a  Pass- 
over :  when  he  passes,  in  his  dealings,  over  the  highway  from 
the  Egyptian  darkness  of  inequality  into  the  broad  domain 
of  the  Holy  Land  of  justice  and  equity  ? 

And  this  continual  Passing-over  is  the  mission  of  the  true 
merchant. 

A  business  is  a  sacred  place;  and  a  liar  and  cheat  has 
no  right  in  a  business.  If  this  truth  is  being  taught  now  and 
right  here  in  this  business ;  if  this  has  been  done  right  along, 
then  we  may  say  "all 's  well."  But  if  there  has  been  a  de- 
parture toward  the  decline  then  it  is  "all's  ill."  Does  this 
business  allow  injustice  to  customers?  Does  this  business 
allow  injustice  to  employees?  Are  employees  sent  off  on 
unjust  reasons,  or  because  some  hot-head  acts  on  the  spm* 
of  the  moment  ?  Then  I  say  of  that  business  that  the  foun- 
dation has  been  laid  in  vain.  The  whole  thing  is  a  misfor- 
tune. But  if  this  business  has  continued  on  in  the  course 
laid  out  for  it;  if  it  has  continued  on  adhering  strictly  to 
the  laws  of  equity ;  then  the  foundation  has  not  been  laid 
in  vain.  Then  the  structure  is  as  solid  as  the  eternal  moun- 
tains. 


CHAPTER  IV 

A   JOURNEY   TO   PALESTINE 

In  the  ten  years  which  followed  the  opening  of  the  store 
in  1874,  David  Lubin  became  firmly  established  in  Sacra- 
mento as  a  prosperous  and  substantial  merchant,  at  the  head 
of  the  largest  Department  Store  and  Mail  Order  House  on 
the  Pacific  Coast.  The  principles  he  had  fought  for  had 
prevailed ;  the  "grabber"  was  going  or  gone,  and  the  Wein- 
stock-Lubin  mode  of  doing  business  was  the  abundant  re- 
cipient of  that  sincerest  form  of  flattery,  imitation. 

During  these  years  Lubin  had  settled  down  and  married ; 
he  was  now  a  family  man,  the  father  of  thriving  boys  and 
girls ;  a  substantial  citizen  active  in  local  politics  and  issues ; 
a  keen  business  man  intensely  interested  in  the  problems 
of  his  store.  Yet  he  never  allowed  business  interests  to 
absorb  him  to  the  exclusion  of  intellectual  and  educational 
pursuits.  On  the  contrary,  he  made  each  serve  the  other. 
All  his  life  long  he  was  a  strong  believer  in  the  practical 
value  of  abstract  thought,  and  in  the  philosophical  value 
of  business  experience.  Writing  on  this  point  in  1911  to 
his  son  Sie,  he  says : 

I  would  be  pleased  to  have  you  read  this  book  [Maimoni- 
des,  "a  Guide  to  the  Perplexed"]  with  Jesse  and  write  me 
something  in  the  nature  of  a  thesis  on  the  subject  from  time 
to  time;  and  do  not  for  one  moment  think  that  reading 
such  books  will  deteriorate  business  faculty.  Nothing  is 
better  calculated  to  strengthen  business  ability,  and  there 
is  nothing  better  calculated  to  help  to  an  understanding  of 
books  such  as  this  than  everyday  business  experience, 
provided  always  that  the  business  thought  be  blended  with 
the  philosophic  sentence,  and  the  philosophic  sentence 
be  blended  with  the  business  experience;  but  in  all  this 
there  should  be  absolutely  no  trace  of  priggishness. 


64  DAVID  LUBIN 

The  little  afterthought  with  which  the  above  quotation  '* 
closes  is  illuminating;    nothing  angered  Lubin  more  than 
the  superciliousness  of  the  "superior"  person;    there  was, 
indeed,  nothing  of  the  "highbrow"  about  him. 

He  was  at  great  pains  during  these  years  of  growth  and 
development  to  supplement  and  complete  his  scanty  early 
education.  He  did  so  from  many  angles.  Among  other 
things,  he  purchased  and  erected  on  his  roof  a  good  telescope, 
got  hold  of  a  local  man  of  some  scientific  attainments,  and 
started  to  acquire  an  elementary  knowledge  of  astronomy ; 
not,  however,  from  the  mathematical  end ;  that  was  always  a 
closed  book  to  Lubin.  He  had  a  logical  mind  which  could 
"play  ball"  with  ideas,  but  figures  fogged  him.  In  connec- 
tion with  the  mechanical  devices  which  he  invented  from 
time  to  time  he  acquired  a  considerable  knowledge  of  me- 
chanics, but  here  again  he  reasoned  from  cause  to  effect 
without  the  help  of  figures. 

He  got  together  a  considerable  library  and  read  widely 
and  discursively  in  history,  philosophy,  theology,  and 
economics,  always  bringing  to  the  books  he  read  the  prob- 
lems on  which  his  own  mind  was  engaged,  and  getting  out 
of  them  data  and  food  for  further  thought  and  the  con- 
firmation or  criticism  of  his  own  ideas,  rather  than  acquir- 
ing ideas  from  them. 

Of  what  is  meant  in  Europe  by  "culture"  he  had  little 
or  none,  and  the  aesthetic  sense  was  in  him  rudimentary. 
He  could  perceive  and  appreciate  the  beauty  of  Holiness, 
but  not  the  holiness  of  Beauty.  I  dare  say  he  himself  would 
have  disputed  this  dictum,  for  although  he  did  not  profess 
to  understand,  he  respected  art.  Indeed,  he  did  his  best 
to  arouse  the  torpid  interest  of  the  copimunity  in  which  he 
lived  to  its  importance.  He  had,  moreover,  very  distinct 
likes  and  dislikes,  in  this  as  in  other  fields,  which  he  was  at 
no  trouble  to  conceal.  Still,  the  fact  remains  that  he  looked 
upon  all  aesthetic  manifestations  with  some  condescension, 
as  agreeable  trimmings  to  life,  not  as  fundamental  issues, 
vital  forms  of  spiritual  energy. 


A  JOURNEY  TO  PALESTINE  65 

Prosperous,  respected,  progressive,  Lubin  in  those  years 
was  typical* of  the  best  side  of  the  Western  American;  but 
once  more  the  dualism  which  was  latent  in  his  character 
was  to  emerge. 

In  1884  his  mother,  then  an  old  woman  over  seventy 
years  of  age,  reminded  him  of  an  early  promise  he  had  made, 
that  if  ever  he  could  afford  it  he  would  take  her  to  the  Holy 
Land.  Now  he  had  the  means,  and  the  time  had  come  to 
redeem  his  promise. 

So  son  and  mother  started  off  together.  To  the  old  lady 
the  journey  was  a  pilgrimage,  the  fulfillment  of  the  pious 
aspirations  of  a  lifetime.  It  was  to  mark  a  turning  point  in 
her  son's  career. 

"I  had  a  sweet  old  time,  I  can  assure  you,'*  he  would  say, 
when  growing  reminiscent  of  that  expedition.  "My  mother 
would  touch  no  food  that  was  not  strictly  'kosher',  and  I 
had  to  see  that  she  got  it.  We  traveled  in  the  Pullman 
palace  cars  across  America,  and  when  the  appointed  hours 
came  round  the  old  lady,  totally  indifferent  to  comment 
or  surprise  on  the  part  of  outsiders  where  matters  of  religion 
were  at  stake,  would  go  through  with  her  devotions,  and  if  I 
betrayed  any  uneasiness  lest  this  should  make  us  too  con- 
spicuous, she  would  give  me  a  sharp  retort  expressive  of 
contempt  for  all  respecters  of  persons :  '  I  am  not  ashamed 
of  my  religion.'" 

After  passing  through  England,  France,  and  the  chief 
Italian  cities,  where  they  visited  the  great  museums  and  art 
collections,  which  did  not  fail  to  make  their  due  impression 
on  Lubin,  they  went  to  Egypt  and  thence  to  Palestine, 
landing  at  Jaffa,  and  as  his  aged  mother  stepped  on  shore 
she  fell  on  her  knees  and  kissed  the  sacred  soil  with  passion- 
ate devotion. 

Lubin  now  found  himself  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
immemorial  East.  The  sudden  change  of  environment  from 
the  ultra  modernity  of  a  pioneer  community  in  Western 
America  to  these  lands  of  ancient  lore,  so  fraught  with  a 
tradition  which  was  his,  yet  so  untouched  by  the  civilization 


66  DAVID  LUBIN 

in  which  he  had  grown  up  and  of  which  he  was  a  part,  could 
not  but  make  a  deep  impress  on  his  mind. 

He  accompanied  his  mother  on  the  usual  pilgrimage  of 
the  pious  Jew.  The  familiar  Bible  stories  were  visualized 
as  the  guide  took  them  from  spot  to  spot.  The  critical, 
half -amused  skepticism  with  which  he  listened  to  many  of 
the  legends  and  marvels  related  was  tempered  by  the  deep 
respect  and  tenderness  which  old  associations  called  forth. 

Palestine,  under  the  rule  of  the  Turk,  was  almost  as 
remote  from  modern  progress  in  1884  as  in  the  days  of  the 
Prophets.  Of  course,  there  was  the  railway,  and  pilgrims 
came  from  all  corners  of  the  earth  to  visit  the  sanctuaries 
where  the  Moslem  soldiers  kept  the  peace  between  warring 
Christian  sects,  many  of  whose  adepts  were  plunged  in 
ignorance  and  superstition  almost  as  gross  as  that  which 
characterized  the  populations  who  surrounded  the  Israelites 
in  the  days  of  old.  The  Turk,  for  his  part,  took  good  care 
that  the  spirit  of  modernity  should  not  breathe  upon  the 
dry  bones  of  the  past. 

The  duality  in  Lubin's  make-up  had  full  play  here.  Con- 
tact with  the  homeland  of  his  race  made  him  dream  dreams, 
but  these  dreams  were  shaped  by  his  American  upbringing 
and  experience.  The  following  quotation,  taken  from  a 
letter  written  many  years  later  to  Justice  Louis  Brandeis, 
clearly  shows  this : 

In  response  to  your  request  let  me  say,  first  of  all,  that  in 
1884  I  visited  Palestine  and  became  impressed  with  the  idea 
of  Zionism  to  the  extent  of  subsequently  writing  an  article 
on  the  subject  which  was  printed  either  in  the  London 
Jewish  World  or  in  the  Jewish  Chronicle,  I  do  not  remember 
which.  In  this  article  I  favored  starting  the  development 
of  Palestine  on  industrial  rather  than  on  agricultural  lines. 
I  favored  the  opening  of  factories,  to  be  operated  by  up-to- 
date  machinery,  for  the  manufacture  of  such  staple  goods 
as  would  find  a  market  in  the  Mediterranean  countries  and 
in  the  interior  of  Asia  and  Africa.  In  fact,  I  was  in  favor  of 
converting  Palestine  into  a  new  New  England,  when  com- 


A  JOURNEY  TO  PALESTINE  67 

merce  and  industry  on  American  lines  would  be  sure  to 
sweep  the  field. 

This,  however,  was  to  be  but  the  beginning.  Successful 
commerce  and  industry  were  soon  to  open  the  way  for  safe 
financial  ventures,  when  capital  would  come  forward  for 
the  construction  of  aqueducts  to  afford  an  ample  water 
supply  for  irrigating  and  manufacturing  purposes.  The 
agricultural  restoration  of  Palestine  could  then  be  taken 
systematically  in  hand ;  when  reafforestation  could  be  under- 
taken; when  the  ancient  vineyard  terraces  could  again  be 
supplied  with  earth;  when  hill  and  dale,  when  mountain- 
side and  plain  could  again  be  made  to  blossom  as  the  rose ; 
when  a  new  Palestine  would  arise,  perhaps  surpassing  in 
grandeur  the  Palestine  of  the  days  of  old. 

But  presently  I  bethought  me  of  the  Turk,  and  I  was 
driven  to  the  conclusion  that  if  the  Turk  excels  in  anything 
he  excels  in  the  art  of  converting  something  into  nothing ; 
that  in  matters  of  progress  he  is  uniformly  inert  and  reaction- 
ary.    And  my  dream  faded  into  nothingness. 

Side  by  side,  however,  with  this  Americanized  vision  of 
an  industrial  Palestine,  accumulating  the  earnings  of  but- 
ton and  shirt  factories,  and  what  not,  as  a  means  towards 
an  ultimate  intellectual  and  spiritual  as  well  as  material 
revival,  Lubin  caught  in  vivid  relief  the  vision  of  the  past. 

In  Palestine,  as  in  Poland  and  Russia,  political  oppression 
and  social  ostracism  drove  the  Jew  inward.  He  intrenched 
himself  behind  his  religious  theme  and  found  therein  spiritual 
sustenance  which  enabled  him  to  persevere  along  his  own 
individual  lines  and  to  preserve  his  identity  as  a  "peculiar 
people."  In  the  school  and  the  synagogue  the  life,  though 
narrow  and  antiquated,  was  intense,  and  Lubin  came  into 
close  contact  with  it.  He  frequented  the  Talmud  schools ; 
he  was  present  when  the  doctors  of  the  law  disputed  on  points 
of  doctrine ;  he  took  part  in  their  debates. 

Temperamentally,  Lubin  was  alien  to  formalistic  ritualism 
and  narrow  orthodoxy ;  he  looked  upon  these  as,  in  them- 
selves, but  shadows  without  substance.  He  was  only  an 
intermittent  attendant  at  temple  or  synagogue,  nor  did  he 


68  DAVID   LUBIN 

adhere  strictly  to  the  forms  and  ceremonies  of  his  faith ;  yet 
here,  in  this  strange  yet  familiar  homeland  of  his  race,  he 
began  to  realize,  as  never  before,  their  inner  significance,  the 
truth  cloaked  in  the  quaint  or  subtle  symbol,  or  brought  home 
by  picturesque  illustration  or  parable.  He  pondered  on  the 
significance  of  much  that  he  had  hitherto  taken  for  granted ; 
on  the  "tallith",  the  fringed  outer  garment  of  white  wool 
with  ribbons  of  blue,  handed  down  to  the  orthodox  from  a 
remote  past  that  the  wearer  might  not  forget  "that  God  is 
Holy  and  that  Israel  should  be  a  holy  people."  He  noted 
the  way  the  reader  followed  the  text  he  was  expounding 
with  his  pointer,  giving  due  emphasis  and  weight  to  each 
word,  and  his  singsong  chant  as  he  swayed  from  right  to  left. 
The  words  of  the  ancient  prayer,  "our  Father  and  our  King, 
we  have  no  Sovereign  but  Thee  ",  still  repeated  by  this  people 
living  in  sufferance  even  in  the  very  cradle  of  its  race,  assumed 
for  him  a  new  significance  of  protest,  the  undying  protest  of 
democracy  against  autocracy,  a  protest  against  the  assump- 
tion of  sovereignty  by  man  over  men ;  and  it  became  the  key 
which  explained  to  him  the  position  of  political  subjection 
in  which  the  Jew  was  kept  in  such  despotic  countries  as 
Russia. 

He  began  to  perceive  the  esoteric  meaning  of  the  long 
familiar  tales.  The  religious  theme  instilled  into  him  by  his 
mother  in  the  impressionable  years  of  early  childhood  stirred 
within  him.  He  realized  as  never  before  the  tragedy  of  his 
race  and  the  responsibility  of  belonging,  as  he  believed,  to  a 
Messianic  people  sent  forth  to  be  a  blessing  to  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  While  on  the  one  hand,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  vision  of  the  ruins  of  what  had  once  been  a  smiling  land 
turned  his  thoughts  to  the  possibility  of  restoring  material 
prosperity  on  modern  industrial  lines,  and  of  thus  procuring 
an  economic  basis  on  which  to  build  up  a  homeland  for  the 
oppressed  ghetto  dwellers  of  Eastern  Europe,  on  the  other 
hand  he  conceived  of  a  far  nobler  mission  for  his  people 
than  that  of  fulfilling  the  dreams  of  nationalistic  Zionism. 

Though  this  side  of  his  mental  make-up  was  not  one  with 


A  JOURNEY  TO  PALESTINE  69 

which  his  collaborators  in  the  many  practical  schemes  which 
he  initiated  came  generally  into  contact,  no  life  of  David 
Lubin  which  failed  to  give  due  emphasis  to  his  conception 
of  Israel  as  a  missionary  people  would  faithfully  portray 
his  personality.  It  was  the  underlying  motor  power  of  his 
whole  career. 

While  he  aimed  at  achieving  reform  along  the  strictly 
practical  lines  for  which  his  American  training  and  experience 
had  fitted  him,  yet  in  his  eyes  the  important  thing  was  not 
the  reform  considered  in  itself  and  by  itself,  but  the  reform 
considered  as  a  link  in  the  chain  of  progress,  starting  from 
the  Primal  Cause,  the  one  Righteousness,  to  attain  the 
ultimate  effect,  the  realization  of  the  Kingdom  on  Earth, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  that  choice  band  of  Fighters 
for  God  designated  in  the  Hebrew  language  by  the  name 
"Israel."  And  here  we  must  point  out  that  it  would  be 
doing  Lubin  a  real  injustice  to  give  the  impression  that, 
prejudiced  by  racial  feeling,  he  presumed  to  limit  the  desig- 
nation "Israel"  (used  in  the  broad  sense  in  which  he  chose 
to  interpret  it)  to  the  Jewish  people.  While  heredity,  train- 
ing, and  constant  reading  along  specialized  lines  strongly 
inclined  him  to  the  belief  that  his  people  had  indeed  played 
a  preponderating  and  a  pioneer  part  in  the  development  of 
democracy  and  all  that  democracy  stands  for  in  the  spiritual, 
social,  and  political  fields,  he  was,  nevertheless,  careful 
to  explain  that  he  did  not  use  the  designation  "Israel" 
in  a  tribal  sense.  In  a  note  dated  from  Washington,  Novem- 
ber, 1911,  addressed  to  Commissioner  Charles  P.  Neil  of  the 
Bureau  of  Labor,  Lubin  explains  his  position  on  this  point : 

Relevant  to  the  illuminating  toast  you  were  good  enough 
to  deliver  at  the  dinner  we  attended  together,  I  hand  you 
herewith  the  text  which  forms  the  basis  on  which  my  work 
in  the  Institute  rests.  In  presenting  this  paper  to  you  I 
wish  to  dwell  a  moment  on  the  designation  "Israel."  You 
will  see  from  the  dictionary  that  it  means  "Fighter  for  God", 
and  this  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  Israel  means  exclu- 
sively those  of  the  Jewish  people.     It  really  means  all  that 


70  DAVID  LUBIN 

band  of  faithful  workers  of  all  times  and  of  all  nations  who 
have  striven  for  development  and  civilization. 

Lubin  has  emphasized  this  conception  elsewhere,  and 
more  especially  in  his  book  "Let  There  Be  Light",  of  which 
more  later  on. 

And  now,  with  the  above  for  annotation,  I  will  let  the 
following  excerpts  from  letters  written  many  years  subse- 
quent to  his  Palestinian  experience,  but  which  exhibit  the 
train  of  thought  fostered  and  confirmed  by  that  experience, 
speak  for  themselves. 

f  In  1909,  replying  to  Miss  Adella  Mills,  the  daughter  of  a 
valued  old  Californian  friend,  who  inquired  how  he  came  by 
the  idea  which  resulted  in  the  foundation  of  the  International 
Institute  of  Agriculture,  he  writes : 

Well,  it  is  a  long  long  story,  and  one  not  intended  for 
publication;  it  dates  back  to  when  I  first  gave  expression 
to  this  idea  at  the  International  Agricultural  Congress  of 
Budapest,  in  Hungary ;  it  dates  back  to  1884  when  I  took 
my  mother  to  the  Holy  Land,  when  on  landing  at  Jaffa, 
she  knelt  down  and  kissed  the  earth ;  in  fact,  it  dates  back 
to  the  centuries  in  the  life  of  a  very  small  nation,  a  life  of 
the  most  significant  consequences  to  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  and  for  all  time  to  come.  It  dates  back  to  Aaron,  the 
brother  of  Moses,  from  whom  I  am  descended  (as  I  come 
from  the  tribe  of  priesthood)  and  it  dates  back  to  Abraham 
who  was  told  "Go,  and  be  a  blessing  to  the  nations",  who 
was  told  "through  thee  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be 
blessed."  It  has  its  root  in  the  eternal  struggle  of  Israel 
against  the  theory  of  incarnations,  incarnations  believed  in 
by  all  the  tribes  and  nations  of  the  world  excepting  Israel, 
who  was  to  make  no  physical  or  mental  image  of  God, 
because  no  image  could  be  made  of  Him.  For  an  image  is 
an  embodiment  of  material,  of  matter,  and  matter  is  com- 
posed of  parts,  and  each  of  the  parts  is  finite,  and  God  is 
not  finite  as  a  whole  nor  in  part.  Sometimes  Israel  has 
defined  his  belief  in  the  oneness  of  God  in  what  is  called 
monotheism.  "Hear,  Israel,  the  Lord  our  God  is  One  God" 
and  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
with  all  thy  soul  and  with  all  thy  mind." 


A  JOURNEY  TO  PALESTINE  71 

Now,  were  this  one  God  composed  of  parts,  He  would  be 
a  finite  composition,  just  as  much  so  as  in  the  theory  em- 
braced by  polytheism.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  Israel 
was  f>ermitted  no  physical  or  mental  image  of  God ;  not 
even  the  word  "God"  was  permitted  to  be  used.  God 
was  the  universal  ideal  embodied  in  the  word  "Zadoketh", 
which  means  collectively  what  the  two  words  "Charity" 
and  "Equity"  mean,  or,  as  it  is  designated  in  English 
** Righteousness."  And  here,  you  see,  you  have  the  Uni- 
versal Father,  the  incorporeal  Mind,  which  governs  right- 
eously the  mote  and  the  ponderous  globe,  the  insect  and  the 
goul  of  thought. 

It  was  because  Israel  lived  this  thought,  brought  forth 
this  thought,  that  he  has  lived  the  life  he  has,  and  suffered 
all  these  centuries.  ...  At  the  present  moment  Israel, 
stunned,  lies  asleep  in  the  Valley,  in  the  Valley  of  "Dry 
Bones",  but  presently  he  will  awaken  and  go  on  with  his 
mission,  and  continue  in  the  work  for  which  he  was  eternally 
ordained,  and  this  mission  is  to  be  Servant;  Servant  unto 
the  Nations  of  the  Earth. 

And  the  service  wherein  he  is  Servant  is  most  sacred, 
for  it  is  destined,  in  the  end,  to  cause  "the  swords  to  be 
beaten  into  ploughshares,  the  spears  into  pruning  hooks", 
when  nation  shall  no  longer  lift  up  a  sword  against  nation 
neither  shall  they  learn  war  any  more ;  then  shall  every  man 
sit  under  his  own  vine  and  fig-tree  and  none  to  make  them 
afraid.  .  .  . 

It  was  in  1884,  when  I  brought  my  mother,  then  over 
seventy  years  of  age,  to  the  Holy  Land  that  I  was  vividly 
reminded  of  the  mission  of  my  people.  This  was  the  reason 
why  I  bought  lands  in  California  and  became  a  farmer, 
to  the  end  that  I  might  study  and  thus  become  of  service, 
thus  to  render  service  in  the  ways  in  which  Israel  is  to 
serve. 

Your  father  well  knew  this  idea,  and  his  powerful  and 
superior  mind  and  his  sympathy  aided  me  much  in  its 
elaboration.  You,  perhaps,  are  familiar  with  some  of  my 
work  in  California  in  behalf  of  its  fruit  industries  from  1885 
until  1893,  and  after  that  time  the  wider  struggle  in  behalf 
of  the  farmers  of  the  nation  who  produce  the  staples  of 


72  DAVID  LUBIN 

agriculture,  culminating  in  the  idea  set  forth  at  the  Inter- 
national Congress  of  Agriculture  at  Budapest  for  the  inter- 
national control  of  the  problems  confronting  that  foundation 
industry. 

And  here  is  a  letter  addressed  in  the  same  year  (1909) 
to  Doctor  Max  Nordau : 

Dear  Dr.  Nordau :  I  have  your  valued  comments  on  my 
letter  to  Miss  Mills.  You  say:  "Your  letter  is  beautiful 
as  a  profession  of  faith  and  as  the  revelation  of  a  deep  and 
lofty  idealism.  But  I  object  most  emphatically  to  the 
definition  of  Israel  as  a  servant,  however  noble,  to  the  other 
nations.  It  is  base  degradation;  and  still  worse  to  glory 
in  it.  No  self-conscious  nation  with  a  sense  of  dignity  and 
with  manliness,  will  suffer  to  be  the  servant  of  others.  A 
nation  with  self-respect  serves  only  its  proper  aspirations, 
and  it  becomes  a  blessing  to  mankind  at  large  by  striving 
to  attain  such  a  moral  height  as  to  be  a  beacon  to  the  world 
and  an  example  to  other  nations.  We  never  work  more 
efficiently  for  all  nations,  than  when  we  work  intensely 
for  ourselves." 

I  do  not  know  whether  what  you  say  will  be  approved  by 
Frenchmen;  I  am  sure  it  would  be  by  Americans.  As  an 
American  I  fully  agree  with  what  you  have  said,  but  as  a 
critic  on  the  position  of  Israel  among  the  nations  I  hold  your 
opinion  untenable. 

When  Israel  rejected  the  cats,  the  crocodiles,  the  scarabei, 
the  bulls  of  Egypt,  he  became  untenable  in  that  country. 
When  he  evolved  his  God  thesis  until  he  had  his  non- 
incarnate,  non-transmigratory,  sole  God,  not  composed  of 
parts,  a  God  of  Universal  Law,  incapable  of  magic  or  wrong 
or  injustice,  conscious  and  cognisant,  the  Only  God,  then 
he  became  untenable  in  Judaea,  for  his  neighbours  would  not 
have  it  so.  When  the  story  of  the  death  of  the  incarnate 
God  arose,  and  when  this  death  was  attributed  to  Israel, 
Israel  as  a  nation  became  an  outlaw,  outlawed  as  a  nation, 
outlawed  to  this  very  day.  The  outlawry  is  the  price  he 
pays  for  the  maintenance  of  his  position. 

Let  Israel  abandon  his  position  .  .  .  and  his  outlawry 
is  at  once  removed.     He  could  then  become  a  nation  and  a 


A  JOURNEY  TO  PALESTINE  73 

strong  nation.  But  let  him  persist  in  the  position  he  has 
held,  the  position  which  he  holds,  and  he  stands  forfeit  of 
national  existence.  .  .  . 

And  so  the  issue  is  squarely  before  us  that  Israel  is  the 
stammerer,  the  Lord's  stammerer,  with  a  mission  to  the 
nations ;  a  mission  which  renders  him  the  Servant  of  the 
Nations  for  the  uplifting  of  all  the  f>eople  of  the  world,  and 
for  all  time ;  or  he  has  no  such  mission. 

If  he  has  no  such  mission  he  is  an  impostor,  or  he  is  living 
under  a  delusion,  and  the  quicker  he  assimilates  and  becomes 
merged  with  the  nations,  the  quicker  he  loses  his  identity 
as  Israel,  the  quicker  will  it  be  possible  for  him  to  become  a 
nation  and  perhaps  a  strong  one. 

But,  you  may  say,  such  a  renegade  Israel  would  not  be 
worth  restoration;  it  would  make  very  little  difference  to 
the  world  whether  such  renegades  were  restored  or  not. 

And  if  this  be  so,  the  question  still  remains  whether  there 
be  verity  behind  the  theme  of  Israel;  whether  it  be  The 
Verity?  If  his  position  be  The  Verity,  and  if  he  may 
only  maintain  that  position  in  dispersion,  then,  of  course, 
the  nationalist  proposition  becomes  untenable.  And  what 
then  ?  Is  it  not  clear  that  there  is  one  Dominion,  one  King- 
dom which  he  may,  which  he  should,  occupy?  And  is  not 
that  Dominion,  that  Kingdom,  Service?  And  in  this 
Service  have  we  not  the  key  to  unlock  the  fetters  of  out- 
lawry ? 

This  stammerer,  with  a  stammerer's  gesticulations,  at 
times  utters  what  the  spirit  prompts,  and  this  utterance,  like 
the  irrigating  waters  to  the  parched  soil,  gives  life.  And  in 
the  past  the  most  intense  life  came  at  the  time  when  Israel 
suffered  most. 

And  now  a  new  danger,  a  danger  more  to  be  dreaded  than 
suffering  has  come,  the  danger  of  prosperity.  Israel  with 
his  caftan,  his  yermaloch,  with  his  tallith,^  his  tephillin,^ 
his  psalms,  with  his  Bible,  was  a  respectable  entity;  but 
the  Jew  banker  with  monocle,  with  automobiles,  with  the 
girl  with  yellow  hair,  is  evidently  the  animal  in  the  mind  of 
the  Greek  artist  who  designed  the  man-goat,  with  his  charac- 

*  A  shawl  with  fringes  worn  by  men  during  prayer. 

*  Phylacteries. 


74  DAVID  LUBIN 

teristic  animal  ears  and  hoofs.  That  is  the  tribe  that  makes 
for  "rishes."! 

And  besides  this  tribe  there  is  the  deep,  great  Valley  of 
Dry  Bones,  and  Israel  slumbers  in  the  Valley,  and  he  calls 
it  peaceful  rest ;  but  it  is  not  Peace  nor  Rest ;  it  is  Rust  and 
Death.  And  is  not  the  time  here  for  the  voice  that  shall 
awaken,  the  voice  that  shall  animate,  the  voice  that  shall 
inspire,  the  voice  that  shall  indicate  that  the  time  is  at  hand 
for  action,  for  service  ? 

I  am  sure,  my  dear  Doctor,  that  on  reconsideration  you 
will  think  better  of  the  word  "Servant",  "Service."  Where 
is  there  a  man  of  renown,  a  man  of  princely  rank,  a  King, 
an  Emperor,  that  stands  higher  in  the  eyes  of  the  Almighty 
than  the  humble  man,  or  the  humble  nation,  or  the  humble 
people  that  unselfishly  does  service  in  the  uplifting  of  the 
people?  If  I  had  the  choice  offered  me  by  the  Almighty 
to  found  a  nation  for  the  Jewish  people,  secure  and  mighty, 
or  that  they  be  servants  to  all  the  people  of  the  world,  up- 
lifting the  nations,  I  would  choose  the  latter  as  the  destiny 
of  Israel.  Even  though  the  latter  was  through  the  troubled 
waters  of  sorrow  and  misery. 

The  correspondent  to  whom  the  next  letter  from  which 
I  will  quote  was  addressed,  Mr.  Nissim  Behar,  was  one  of 
the  Palestinian  Jews  whom  Mr.  Lubin  met  in  Jerusalem. 
Subsequently  Mr.  Behar  settled  in  the  United  States,  where 
he  has  worked  hard  and  successfully  with  Congress,  pleading 
the  cause  of  the  unlettered  immigrant  from  whatever  land 
of  origin  he  may  hail.  To  him  Mr.  Lubin  wrote  in  the 
summer  of  1909  from  Wiesbaden  (Germany)  where  he  was 
spending  his  vacation,  as  follows : 

Let  the  young  American  Pullackin  [Polish  Jews]  and 
Yavanin  [Russian  Jews]  that  crowd  the  colleges  in  the  New 
World  read  up,  and  read  with  open  eyes,  and  they  will  begin 
to  see  as  clear  as  noonday  that  there  is  no  necessity  for  them 
to  run  away  to  crazy  collectivism  or  to  insane  anarchism  as 
a  theme  for  progress ;  they  will  then  be  astonished  to  see  that 
the  Jew  is  by  no  means  the  poor  outlaw  scrub  that  the  Goy 

^Prejudice. 


A  JOURNEY  TO  PALESTINE  75 

[Gentile]  would  make  him  out  to  be.  With  clear  vision  the 
young  student  would  learn,  perhaps  with  astonishment,  that 
America  was  discovered  long  before  Columbus  lived;  that 
all  there  is  in  the  " red-white-and-blue ",  and  in  the  "Mar- 
seillaise Hymn",  and  in  the  British  House  of  Commons, 
and  in  the  virtues  of  the  English  home  and  the  American 
home,  and  in  English  liberty  and  in  American  liberty  came 
straight  from  the  "  Yid"  [Jews].  More  than  that,  the  young 
"Litvak"  [Lithuanian]  and  the  young  "Pullack"  Yid  will 
learn  that  the  lifework  of  his  people,  of  Yisroel,  has  just  about 
got  into  shape  to  be  begun,  for  we  may  safely  say  that,  if  we 
are  to  take  the  word  of  the  Prophets  seriously,  our  work  in 
the  past  is  but  the  prelude  to  what  we  have  to  accomplish. 
To  prepare  us  for  this  great  work  we  have  been  placed  in 
a  comatose  condition  for  twenty  centuries,  and  we  are  just 
about  beginning  to  awaken  from  our  long  sleep. 

And  when  we  open  our  eyes  what  do  we  behold?  We 
behold  the  crown  of  royal  equity,  of  righteousness,  of  justice, 
of  "rachmonus",  of  the  Spirit,  ruling  the  nations,  the  people 
and  the  individuals !  and  the  regal  quality  of  this  rule  is 
infinitely  more  potent  than  all  the  qualities  inherent  in  kings 
or  presidents ;  and  after  beholding  this  let  any  one  then  say 
that  the  Jew  has  no  country.  Can  a  country  be  shown,  high 
in  the  scale  of  the  qualities  named,  that  was  not  shaped 
through  the  influences  in  the  life  of  Israel  ?  Do  not  let  the 
young  people  get  fooled  by  the  seeming  level-headed,  prac- 
tical man;  the  man  that  boasts  of  his  levelness.  Such 
men  are  more  often  practical  humbugs.  .  .  .  Let  there  be 
but  one  Jew  with  the  proper  spirit ;  let  him  go  forth  to  do 
the  work  which  it  is  Israel's  mission  to  do,  and  the  work  will 
be  begun. 

How  strongly  Lubin  felt  on  the  theme  of  "Service"  is 
again  set  forth  in  the  following  letter  written  from  Rome  in 
December,  1910: 

I  have  read  the  interesting  article  in  the  magazine  you 
sent  me  concerning  the  female  phase  of  "rishes"  as  expressed 
in  the  exclusion  of  Jewesses  from  private  schools.  You 
seem  to  me  to  state  the  case  tersely  and  logically,  but  then, 
of  what  value  are  such  presentations  ? 


76  DAVID   LUBIN 

See  then ;  a  younger  brother,  Isaac,  wins  and  assumes 
leadership,  leadership  as  Master  of  the  House;  the  rival 
brother  for  leadership,  Esau,  finds  an  opening,  expels  Isaac, 
and  takes  possession  of  the  house.  Thereat  Isaac  stands  hat 
in  hand  asking  Esau  to  let  him  in,  perchance  to  afford  him  a 
way  to  "rule  the  roost",  to  run  the  House.  And  what  is 
the  answer  of  Esau.?*  "You  be  damned,  and  stay  out  there 
and  freeze." 

There  is  but  one  way  for  the  poor  "Yeedcha"  to  come 
in  out  of  the  cold,  to  take  his  place  on  an  equality  with  Esau, 
to  be  his  peer,  his  leader,  and  mayhap  his  superior,  and  that 
is  THROUGH  SERVICE.  And  the  highest  kind  of  service 
is  that  which  will  bring  the  world  what  our  prophets  called 
RIGHTEOUSNESS,  which  I  interpret  as  "one  law  for  the 
native  and  for  the  stranger",  "a  just  weight  and  a  just 
measure  ye  shall  have"  .  .  . 

Come,  do  you  not  know  that  with  all  our  climbing  from 
the  gutter  of  the  Ghetto,  with  all  our  department  stores,  with 
all  our  newly  acquired  political  pulls,  with  all  the  supposed 
dignity  derived  from  the  addition  of  dollar  upon  dollar, 
there  is  evolved,  what.?^  A  mere  monkey- Yeedche,  that  is 
keen  on  "fressing  chazzaer'*  ^  and  in  a  sneaking  anxiety  for 
toleration,  perchance  assimilation.  If  I  were  a  "goyishker"^ 
American  I  would  say  "  To  hell  with  them,  the  degenerates ; 
the  degenerate  sons  of  the  divinely  inspired  prophets;  of 
prophets  that  lifted  up  a  world,  prophets  that  conquered 
barbarism," 

Just  let  Israel  do  a  "lick  of  work"  on  this  line,  even  if  it 
takes  "all  summer",  if  it  take  a  century,  if  it  take  centuries, 
and  there  will  be  no  reason  to  whine,  coax,  or  "holler." 

The  next  excerpt  is  from  a  letter  to  Doctor  H.  G.  Enelow, 
written  in  June,  1912 : 

It  may  take  fifty  years  more,  a  hundred  years  more,  a 
thousand  years  more,  or  ten  thousand  years  more  for  Israel's 
task  to  be  accomplished;  accomplished  it  will  be  some 
day ;  some  day  when  "  Thy  will  be  done  in  earth  as  it  is 
in  heaven",  when  there  will  be  a  "just  weight  and  a  just 

*  Eating  pork.  *  Gentile. 


A  JOURNEY  TO  PALESTINE  77 

measure  '* ;  when  there  will  be  collective  righteousness,  the 
righteousness  of  the  city,  the  righteousness  of  the  State, 
the  righteousness  of  the  Nation,  and  righteousness  among  the 
Nations  as  well  as  righteousness  practiced  by  the  individual. 
This  is  the  mission  of  Israel,  and  in  this  field  no  one  has 
even  attempted  to  usurp  his  place;  no  one  will  usurp  it; 
it  belongs  of  right  to  Israel.  Israel  has  worked  for  it  these 
past  3,500  years  and  has  suffered  for  it,  and  is  yet  to  suffer 
for  it.  Thrust  prone  to  the  earth,  comatose,  with  the  foot 
of  the  oppressor  but  lately  removed  from  his  neck,  Israel  is 
convalescing,  and  some  part  of  him  has  even  grown  merry, 
merry  in  eating  pork,  merry  in  owning  diamonds  and  auto- 
mobiles and  in  denying  divine  rule.  But  these  do  not  count ; 
these  are  the  scoriae,  the  scum,  the  maggots,  the  baser 
portion  which  disfigures,  which  is  not  integral.  The  real 
Israel  lives,  will  live  for  ever.  The  real  Israel  is  ever  cath- 
olic, must  ever  be  catholic,  just  as  he  must  ever  protest, 
must  ever  be  protestant;  and  thus,  in  time,  trunk  and 
branches  will  all  make  one  great  tree,  Israel. 

From  the  files  which  contain  much  of  David  Lubin's 
correspondence  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  many 
other  letters  could  be  culled  setting  forth  the  same  theme  in 
vigorous  and  picturesque  language,  but  repetition  would 
be  wearisome.  Enough  has  been  said  to  show  how  powerful 
this  conviction  of  the  mission  of  Israel  was  in  shaping  his 
work  and  ideas.  The  journey  to  Palestine  had  crystallized 
the  latent  thought,  and  his  efforts  were  henceforth  to  broaden 
rapidly  in  scope,  and  progressively  to  aim  at  universal  rather 
than  at  national  results. 

As  I  have  already  said,  Lubin  always  considered  that  this 
journey  to  Palestine  marked  a  turning  point  in  his  career. 
Why?  Because  while  traveling  over  this  small  stretch  of 
barren  and  largely  barbaric  territory,  insignificant  indeed  in 
extent  to  one  accustomed  to  the  vast  spaciousness  of  the 
New  World,  he  firgt  began  to  realize  the  importance  of  the 
small  land-owning  farmer  as  a  factor  in  democracy. 

Pondering  on  the  theme  and  the  history  of  Israel  he  could 
not  but  ask  himself  how  it  came  that  so  small  a  handful  of 


78  DAVID   LUBIN 

people,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  radically  different  and 
hostile  civilizations,  the  civilizations  of  Egypt,  of  Babylonia, 
of  Assyria,  by  Canaanites  and  Hittites  and  Philistines,  had 
been  able  to  make  so  vast  a  contribution  to  the  thought  and 
civilization  of  the  world;  to  evolve  conceptions  of  social 
and  political  righteousness  still  far  in  advance  of  our  most 
advanced  achievement.  Where  the  mystic  or  the  strictly 
orthodox  might  have  been  satisfied  by  an  a  prioristic  answer, 
pointing  to  a  text  for  authority,  the  rationalistic  turn  of 
Lubin's  mind,  rebellious  against  mere  dogmatic  formulae, 
made  him  seek  a  more  convincing  and  scientific  solution  of 
the  problem.  He  found  it  in  the  system  of  land  tenure  which 
prevailed  in  Judaea.  In  the  surrounding  kingdoms,  land 
was  vested  in  the  monarch,  and  the  peasantry  who  tilled 
the  soil  were  serfs  or  slaves ;  in  Judaea  land  was  vested  in 
an  impersonal,  incorporeal  God  and  worked  by  His  children, 
to  whom  He  gave  it  as  a  heritage.  "The  earth  is  the  Lord's 
and  the  fullness  thereof ;  "  not  the  landlord's. 

Thus  Judaea  came  to  be  peopled  by  a  nation  of  small 
landowning  farmers,  farmers  whose  landmarks  could  not  be 
removed ;  who  were,  therefore,  economically  free  men.  To 
this  basic  fact  Lubin  traced  back  the  growth  and  per- 
sistency of  democracy  among  them. 

While  the  surrounding  peoples  worshiped  their  rulers 
as  personifications  of  the  deity,  the  Jews  conceived  of  the 
king  as  the  servant  of  the  people,  not  as  its  master ;  hence 
the  denunciations  showered  by  the  prophets  on  the  heads 
of  rulers  unfaithful  to  their  trust,  who  fail  to  render  judg- 
ment and  who  grind  the  faces  of  the  poor. 

In  this  democracy  of  small  landowning  farmers,  closely 
settled  on  a  narrow  strip  of  then  fertile  territory,  Lubin 
found  the  key  to  the  intense  intellectual  life  which  enabled 
the  Jew,  racially  similar  to  the  other  Semitic  peoples  by 
whom  he  was  surrounded,  so  far  to  outstrip  them.  Economic 
freedom  promoted  criticism  and  debate;  the  day's  work 
done,  the  small  farmer  would  look  over  his  fence  and  talk 
with  his  neighbor ;   democracy  means  free  speech,  and  free 


A  JOURNEY  TO  PALESTINE  79 

speech  encourages  free  thought,  and  free  speech  and  free 
thought  make  for  progress.  And  among  the  Jews,  in  the 
absence  of  scientific  knowledge  characteristic  of  that  age, 
progress  advanced  along  the  lines  of  religious  and  philo- 
sophic speculation,  and  found  its  noblest  expression  in  the 
teachings  of  the  great  Prophets,  those  fearless  Tribunes 
of  the  People. 

Lubin  found  a  confirmation  of  this  theory,  by  which  he 
explained  the  evolution  of  the  Jew,  in  his  reading  of  the 
history  of  Rome.  There  again  a  democracy  was  built  up 
which  endured  as  such  so  long  as  the  landowning  farmer  held 
his  own,  and  no  longer.  He  began  to  see  clearly  the  connec- 
tion between  democracy  and  the  form  of  land  tenure  pre- 
vailing in  a  community. 

This,  then,  was  one  of  the  truths  brought  home  to  him 
by  his  joumeyings  in  the  Holy  Land.  He  felt  that  he  must 
study  along  these  lines  and  work  out  this  thought  to  its 
logical  conclusion  if  he  were  to  perform  the  Service  to  which 
he  felt  called,  or  rather,  as  he  would  often  say,  to  which  he 
had  elected  himself  to  be  a  servant. 

But  how  was  a  Jew  to  speak  with  authority  on  such  a 
point.''  Of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  was  not  the  Jewish 
the  only  one  which  for  centuries  past,  ever  since  the  dis- 
persion, had  been  divorced  from  the  soil?  Had  not  his 
people  been  driven  by  social  prejudice  and  legal  enactments 
to  devote  themselves  almost  exclusively  to  commerce  and, 
until  recent  years,  to  the  more  despised  forms  of  commerce 
at  that,  to  petty  trading  and  usury?  Was  not  his  own 
personal  experience  exclusively  that  of  a  merchant?  How 
was  he  to  become  the  prophet  of  a  democracy  based  on  the 
recognition  of  the  economic  and  political  importance  of  the 
independent  landowning  farmer  ? 

When  Lubin  left  Palestine  he  had  found  a  solution  to  the 
problem;  his  mind  was  made  up.  He  would  buy  land. 
He  would  acquire  by  personal  experience  the  knowledge 
he  required.  Just  what  were  the  lines  on  which  to  make  his 
fight  for  righteousness  in  human  relations  he  did  not  then 


80  DAVID   LUBIN 

know,  but  he  had  faith  that  the  path  would  grow  clear  as 
he  gained  in  knowledge  and  experience. 

All  these  experiences  and  impressions  were  necessarily 
crowded  into  a  short  space  of  time.  The  exigencies  of 
business  would  not  allow  of  more  than  two  or  three  months 
absence  from  Sacramento,  and  David  Lubin  once  more 
turned  his  face  westwards.  His  mother  decided  to  remain 
behind;  it  was  her  desire  to  die  in  the  Holy  Land  and  to 
sleep  her  last  sleep  in  the  land  of  her  forefathers.  She  was 
absorbed  in  the  religious  life  of  Jerusalem  and  its  multi- 
farious charities  for  the  poor  Jewish  pilgrims  who  travel 
there  from  the  lands  of  exile.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however, 
the  old  lady  was  to  find  that  she  was  farther  from  her  end 
than  she  supposed,  and  seeing  that  death  tarried  overmuch, 
she  returned  after  some  time  to  America,  where  she  fell 
asleep  in  the  fullness  of  years  when  well  over  eighty. 

As  to  her  son,  the  seed  she  had  sown  in  the  days  of  his 
boyhood  had  been  brought  to  maturity,  and  when  he  left 
Palestine  it  was  to  enter  definitely,  and  of  set  purpose,  on 
his  life  work,  on  that  Service  to  which  his  mother  believed 
he  had  been  called  when  she  nursed  him  as  a  babe  in  the 
little  village  in  far-off  Russian  Poland. 


CHAPTER  V 

FIRST    PUBLIC    ACTIVITIES 

LuBiN,  as  we  have  seen,  returned  from  the  Holy  Land 
impressed  with  the  importance  of  the  small  landowning 
farmer  as  a  basic  factor  in  democracy  and  determined  to 
master  agricultural  economics. 

Having  purchased  a  farm  he  started  on  his  new  career, 
raising  wheat  on  two  sections  of  land  in  Colusa  County,  and 
devoting  himself  with  great  energy  and  enthusiasm  to  the 
management  of  a  fruit  ranch  some  ten  or  fifteen  miles  from 
Sacramento. 

He  illustrated  in  his  own  person  the  proverbial  versatil- 
ity of  the  Westerner,  for  he  not  only  owned  the  farm  but  be- 
came proficient  in  its  technique,  mastering  the  arts  of  plant- 
ing, pruning,  grafting,  and  so  forth ;  and  in  a  short  time  the 
merchant  had  developed  into  an  experienced  fruit-grower. 

In  this  new  field  of  activity  he  was  again  to  be  an  in- 
novator, a  pioneer.  Fully  alive  to  the  sociological  im- 
portance of  the  enterprise  in  which  he  was  engaging,  he  de- 
termined to  bring  the  experience  of  a  merchant  to  bear  on 
the  farm,  which  he  wished  to  run  on  strictly  scientific  busi- 
ness lines. 

Mr.  Grove  L.  Johnson,  his  old  friend  and  fellow-Sacra- 
mentan,  has  noted  down,  in  some  recollections,  how  Lubin 
set  about  this  task.  The  fruit  ranch  was  surveyed  and  di- 
vided into  districts,  and  the  trees  numbered  and  classified, 
just  as  the  books  in  a  well-kept  library  are  arranged  by 
shelves  and  aisles  and  numbers.  His  idea  was  to  have  a 
complete  record  kept  of  the  yield  of  each  tree.  For  this 
purpose  he  drew  up  printed  blanks  which  enabled  the  fore- 
man of  the  ranch  to  keep  such  an  account,  so  that  he  might 


82  DAVID  LUBIN 

know  which  trees  did  well,  and  what  was  the  efiFect  upon  each 
of  the  soil  in  which  it  was  growing  and  of  the  mode  of  culti- 
vation, as  shown  by  the  yields  obtained. 

Nor  was  he  an  innovator  in  the  management  of  his  farm 
stock  only;  he  devoted  like  attention  to  the  management 
of  his  farm  labor.  The  notion  that  anything  in  the  way  of 
accommodation  or  no  accommodation  was  good  enough 
for  the  seasonal  workers  employed  to  pick,  pack  and  de- 
liver the  fruit  did  not  square  with  his  ideas  of  justice  or 
policy. 

"Gruff  commands,  surly  orders,  poor  food  and  a  dirty 
bed  are  not  likely  to  engender  faithful  and  conscientious 
work,"  he  wrote  in  commenting  at  the  time  on  the  farm 
labor  situation  in  California;  and  his  was  the  first  fruit 
ranch  in  California  to  provide  wholesome,  clean,  attractive 
sleeping  accommodation  for  these  laborers,  of  whom,  in  the 
rush  season,  he  employed  as  many  as  seventy. 

The  following  recollections  taken  down  from  a  Mr. 
Adotte,  formerly  in  Lubin's  employ,  show  what  an  im- 
pression these  unusual  methods  made  on  his  farm  hands : 

What  sort  o'  place  was  it?  Well,  'i  gosh,  they  was  the 
nicest  folks  I  ever  worked  for :  Lubin,  he  had  this  big  fruit 
farm,  maybe  three  hundred  acres,  and  he  had  twenty-four 
boys  working  for  him  then.  H  'd  had  girls  the  year  before, 
but  he  did  n't  like  'em  much ;  said  they  talked  too  much  and 
did  n't  get  enough  done.  But  say,  it  sure  was  a  nice  place. 
Systematic,  too.  We  all  slept  in  two  big  rooms,  long,  they 
was,  and  come  together  at  a  right  angle,  and  where  they 
come  together  was  a  big  eight-sided  room.  The  sleeping 
rooms  had  bunks  in  'em,  all  along,  two  tiers  high,  and  cup- 
boards between  'em,  and  every  feller  had  his  own  cupboard 
to  keep  his  things  in,  and  no  key  fitted  any  other  cupboard. 
Then  this  big  eight-sided  room,  'i  gosh,  it  had  cards  and  all 
sorts  of  conceivable  games,  and  magazines  for  reading,  and 
every  night  sharp  at  nine  the  foreman,  he  used  to  turn  down 
the  lights,  and  if  anybody  wanted  to  read  after  that,  it  was 
all  right,  but  there  could  n't  be  no  noise.  All  finished  up  in 
hard  wood,  the  place  was,  and  we  had  clean  sheets  every 


FIRST  PUBLIC  ACTIVITIES  83 

week,  regular.     Some  different  from  on  shipboard,  where 
your  blankets  used  to  last  you  till  they  was  wore  out ! 

Eat !  No,  we  did  n't  eat  there.  There  was  a  boarding 
house,  run  by  a  man  named  Stout,  and  his  wife.  I  used  to 
call  him  Strong.  And  'i  gosh,  we  et  good,  too !  The  bell 
used  to  ring  fifteen  minutes  before  breakfast,  and  again 
fifteen  minutes  before  quitting  time,  noon  and  night.  They 
give  you  that  half  hour  a  day,  to  wash  up  and  get  ready; 
paid  you  for  it,  same  's  if  you  worked  for  it. 

Lubin  always  felt  strongly  on  this  matter  of  the  treatment 
of  farm  labor.  To  his  mind  it  was  at  the  bottom  of  much 
social  unrest.  As  late  as  1918  he  took  the  subject  up  in 
a  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  San  Francisco  Examiner  in  which 
he  says : 

My  sister  sent  me  an  editorial  clipping  from  your  paper 
of  Feb.  11th  entitled  "Decent  housing  conditions  will  help 
to  solve  the  Farm  Labor  Problem."  Your  editorial  hits  the 
nail  on  the  head.  If  we  want  to  build  up  a  substantial 
I.  W.  W.  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  continue  the  system  of 
smelly,  filthy,  bunk  houses,  along  with  poor  food  and  skimped 
pay.  Anything  short  of  that  will  be  sure  to  hit  the  I.  W.  W. 
Some  of  us  in  California  are  so  soft-hearted  that  we  will  not 
hit  anything,  least  of  all  the  I.  W.  W. ;  so  why  not  put  up 
with  the  smelly  filthy  bunk  houses  ? 

As  was  his  wont,  Lubin  threw  himself  heart  and  soul  into 
the  task  before  him,  sharing  the  labor  of  his  men  and  in- 
spiring them  with  some  of  his  own  enthusiasm. 

Mr.  John  P.  Irish,  then  editor  of  Alia  Californiay  who  met 
him  in  those  years  writes : 

He  impressed  me  as  almost  reverently  alive  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  soil,  of  its  tillage  and  its  production.  Listen- 
ing to  him  one  felt  the  very  sacredness  of  seed  time  and  har- 
vest. He  had  gone  far  past  the  theory  of  agriculture  as  a 
science  to  consider  the  practice  as  an  art.  He  invoked 
invention  to  the  improvement  of  farm  tools  and  implements. 


84  DAVID  LUBIN 

He  saw  the  opportunity  here  for  variety  farming,  a  system 
by  which  a  group  of  several  crops  would  promote  the  for- 
tunes of  the  farmer.  ...  I  found  him  focusing  in  the  lens 
of  his  business  experience  the  whole  range  of  questions  in- 
volved in  the  tillage  of  the  soil. 

He  had  invested  in  good  "second  bottom"  land,  but  in  one 
part  of  the  ranch  the  shallow  soil  lay  on  a  foundation  of 
bedrock,  and  there  nothing  would  flourish.  This  afforded 
Lubin  an  opportunity  for  experimenting  in  one  of  his  favorite 
theories ;  he  got  hold  of  an  old  miner  who  with  charges  of 
giant  powder  blew  up  the  rock,  revealing,  beneath  a  thin 
layer  of  hard  pan,  alluvial  soil  rich  in  fossil  remains.  Chem- 
ical analysis  showed  this  to  be  the  most  fertile  soil  on  his 
farm,  and  with  the  use  of  high  explosives  he  brought  it  all 
under  cultivation,  planting  French  plums  which  yielded 
such  heavy  crops  that  the  branches  had  to  be  propped  or 
they  would  have  broken  under  the  weight  of  fruit. 

Lubin  soon  realized  that  California  had  in  her  soil  far 
greater  wealth  than  her  gold  mines  had  yielded  to  the  early 
forty-niners,  but  it  was  also  brought  home  to  him  that  the 
development  of  this  potential  wealth  was  hindered,  and  more 
than  hindered,  by  the  conditions  under  which  the  crops 
were  marketed. 

The  conditions  from  which  all  branches  of  agriculture 
th^n  suffered  were  those  so  powerfully  depicted  by  Frank 
Norris  in  "The  Octopus."  The  great  railroads,  built  to 
open  up  the  vast  possibilities  of  the  Western  States,  the  rail- 
roads which  alone  could  furnish  the  means  to  market  the 
crops  of  the  West  in  the  cities  of  the  East,  pursuing  a  policy 
of  ruthless  exploitation  and  grab  had  become  the  masters 
rather  than  the  servants  of  the  people.  The  vast  wealth 
of  California  was  being  diverted  from  its  natural  channels 
into  the  coffers  of  the  railroad  magnates,  too  short-sighted 
to  see  that  such  action  was  equivalent  to  killing  the  goose 
which  laid  the  golden  egg.  The  result  of  all  this  was  to  im- 
poverish the  farmers,  and  with  them  the  manufacturers  and 


FIRST  PUBLIC  ACTIVITIES  85 

merchants,  bringing  the  whole  State  to  the  brink  of  finan- 
cial ruin. 

Lubin's  reaction  to  this  evil  was  characteristic.  His 
attitude  was  neither  that  of  angry  revolt  nor  of  fatalistic 
pessimism.  The  folly  of  the  policy  adopted  by  the  rail- 
roads could  be  demonstrated  by  logic ;  logic  pointed  to  the 
remedy;  and  he  was  convinced  that  it  was  only  a  case  of 
setting  forth  this  logic  clearly  enough  and  forcibly  enough 
and  in  the  right  quarters,  for  it  to  convert  the  arch  offenders 
themselves. 

His  recent  observations  in  Europe  and  the  East,  his 
meditations  on  democracy  and  its*  basis,  made  him  realize  to 
the  full  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  not  only  in  its  economic 
but  also  in  its  political  and  social  aspects.  •  The  year  in 
which  he  started  as  a  fruit-grower,  1885,  happened  also  to 
be  the  first  year  in  the  history  of  that  industry  in  California 
in  which  the  crop  exceeded  the  demand  in  the  limited  market 
developed  for  it  east  of  the  Rockies.  The  finest  peaches, 
apricots,  and  table  grapes  were  being  sold  at  prices  which 
hardly  paid  the  growers  for  the  boxes  in  which  they  were 
packed. 

Looking  up  the  reports  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society 
of  California  for  those  years  we  find  such  statements  as  the 
following:  "There  are  single  farms  in  the  State  containing 
each  over  half  a  million  fruit  trees,  one  person  owning  enough 
trees,  when  fully  matured,  to  provide  as  much  fruit,  other 
than  grapes,  as  will  be  sold  this  year  throughout  our  State. 
The  day  is  not  far  distant  when  fruit  will  be  an  important 
crop  for  raising  and  fattening  swine. ^' 

In  1885  the  shipments  east  did  not  exceed  a  thousand 
carloads  of  green  fruit.  With  the  impulsiveness  of  the  West- 
ern pioneer,  the  farmers  were  already  talking  of  overproduc- 
tion, of  rooting  up  their  orchards  and  vineyards,  of  seeking 
their  fortunes  elsewhere. 

In  common  with  his  fellow  growers,  Lubin  suffered  heavy 
loss,  but  he  saw  that  the  talk  of  overproduction  was  non- 
sense;   the  supply  was  a  trifle  compared  to  the  demand. 


86  DAVID  LUBIN 

measured  in  terms  of  people  ready  and  anxious  to  consume 
fine  fruit  when  offered  at  prices  which  they  could  afford  to 
pay.  Being  a  merchant  he  also  knew  that  the  farmers  were 
not  the  only  sufferers;  that  all  interests  in  the  State  were 
struggling  with  widespread  economic  depression.  He  put 
two  and  two  together  and  clearly  saw  the  danger  run  by  a 
community  in  which  the  staple  industry  was  ruined  by  un- 
economic marketing;  and  in  the  case  of  California  he 
judged  that  the  staple  industry  was,  and  jwould  be  fruit- 
growing. 

At  the  time  he  came  into  the  field  California  fruits  were 
mainly  marketed  through  two  big  firms  of  commission  mer- 
chants, Earl,  and  Porter  Brothers.  These  dealers  bought 
in  large  quantities  from  the  growers,  on  whom  they  forced 
their  price,  shipping  East  only  those  limited  amounts  which 
could  be  sold  at  such  exorbitant  prices  as,  for  instance, 
ninety  cents  a  pound  for  cherries.  The  practical  monopoly 
they  had  of  the  export  fruit  trade  was  rendered  possible  by 
the  policy  pursued  by  the  railroad,  which  would  only  accept 
whole  carloads,  charging  for  them  at  the  rate  of  six  hundred 
dollars  a  car.  As  none  but  the  owners  of  very  big  ranches 
could  possibly  be  in  a  position  to  ship  a  carload  of  green 
fruit  at  a  time,  the  small  farmer  found  himself  entirely  at 
the  mercy  of  the  big  middlemen  who  were  squeezing  the  life 
out  of  him. 

Lubin  recognized  herein  the  root  of  the  evil,  and  he  saw 
in  that  evil  much  more  than  a  mere  personal  loss  to  himself 
and  his  fellow  fruit-growers ;  he  saw  that  it  endangered  the 
future  prosperity  of  the  State  and  aimed  a  blow  at  the  es- 
sence of  democratic  institutions.  He  at  once  rose  to  action, 
taking  an  active  part  in  organizing  the  Fruit  Growers'  Con- 
vention which  was  held  in  San  Francisco  in  September,  1885. 
This  meeting  was  destined  to  lead  in  time  to  far-reaching 
results  and  to  the  ultimate  organization  of  the  California 
Fruit  Growers'  Exchange, which  maybe  said  to  have  initiated 
a  new  chapter  in  the  economic  history  of  the  West  no  less 
than  in  the  marketing  of  farm  produce. 


FIRST  PUBLIC  ACTIVITIES  87 

Lubin  believed  fruit-farming  to  be  particularly  favorable 
to  the  growth  and  stability  of  a  rural  democracy  of  small 
landowning  farmers.  Convinced  of  the  social  and  political 
importance  of  this  development,  he  spared  no  effort  to  make 
both  merchant  and  banker  understand  that  this  was  no  mere 
farmers'  question ;  that  their  own  economic  interests  were 
closely  bound  up  with  its  satisfactory  solution.  Looking  over 
old  files  of  local  newspapers  which,  in  those  months,  were  full 
of  discussions  on  this  matter  and  of  suggestions  for  its  solu- 
tion, we  constantly  come  across  Lubin's  name,  and  we  find 
that  in  his  advocacy  of  the  cause  of  the  fruit-grower  he 
based  his  argument  not  on  the  distressful  situation  of  the 
individual  but  on  the  higher  interests  of  the  community  as 
a  whole.  An  all-absorbing  interest  in  first  principles  dis- 
tinguishes his  propaganda  from  that  of  his  fellow  agitators ; 
indeed,  one  cannot  help  feeling  that  they  must  often  have 
grown  impatient  of  his  methods,  for  he  is  far  more  insistent 
in  dwelling  on  the  general  principle  than  on  the  particular 
grievance.  The  faculty  of  visualizing  the  abstract  in  terms 
of  the  concrete,  so  characteristic  of  his  mind,  was  very  ap- 
parent in  this,  his  first  piece  of  public  work;  while,  in  his 
selection  of  means  to  ends,  he  displayed  in  a  local  campaign 
the  same  daring  and  originality,  crowned  by  the  same  success 
which  was  to  be  his  when,  in  later  life,  he  came  to  play  a  part 
on  the  stage  of  world  events. 

The  fruit-growers  had  held  their  convention;  Governor 
Stanford,  himself  one  of  the  great  railway  magnates,  had 
addressed  the  assembly  and  given  it  his  blessing ;  the  rail- 
roads had  even  offered  to  reduce  their  charges  from  six  hun- 
dred dollars  to  three  hundred  dollars  per  carload,  but,  as  the 
fruit  had  to  be  shipped  in  full  carloads,  the  concession,  so 
far  as  the  small  grower  was  concerned,  was  practically  value- 
less. There  was  much  talk  of  organization  of  the  fruit- 
growers along  cooperative  lines,  but  nothing  positive  had 
materialized.  At  this  juncture  Lubin  wrote  an  article  of 
some  eighteen  thousand  words,  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  be- 
tween a  fruit-grower  and  a  merchant,  in  which  he  argued  the 


88  DAVID  LUBIN 

whole  question  at  length  in  its  political  and  economic  bearing, 
and  brought  out  into  clear  relief  the  responsibility  of  the 
railroads.  Armed  with  this  formidable  document  he  went 
straight  to  the  editor  of  the  railroad  paper,  the  Record  Union, 
of  Sacramento,  offering  it  for  publication  in  their  next  issue. 
Preposterous  the  request  must  have  seemed  at  first  sight, 
and  it  was  met  by  a  flat  refusal ;  but  when  Lubin  pocketed 
his  manuscript,  briefly  stating  that  he  was  going  to  offer  it 
to  the  anti-railroad  paper,  the  editor  thought  better  of  the 
matter,  and  the  full  eighteen  thousand  words  appeared  next 
day,  introduced  by  a  most  respectful  leading  article,  which 
echoes  Lubin's  line  of  argument  in  the  following  words : 
*'  The  best  thought  of  the  State,  the  far-sighted  men  and  state 
builders,  the  thinking  capitalist  and  the  great  transporting 
agencies,  are  of  one  mind  that  California  should  be  a  State 
of  small  homes ;  that  in  a  large  population  there  are  elements 
of  weakness  rather  than  strength  unless  the  people  are  mainly 
self-supporting  and  represent  independent  homes.  So  far 
as  the  fruit  debate  concerns  the  fostering  of  small  farmers, 
so  far  is  it  a  question  of  overshadowing  importance." 

It  was  a  favorite  axiom  with  Lubin  that  a  fundamental 
truth,  however  intricate,  whether  in  economics,  or  science, 
or  philosophy,  can  always  be  stated  in  plain,  convincing 
language,  so  as  to  be  perfectly  comprehensible  even  to  the 
untrained  mind;  that  statements  which  cannot  be  made 
plain  are  almost  always  based  on  fallacies,  on  solecisms 
which  may  sound  well  but  will  not  stand  the  test  of  close 
analysis.  His  own  mode  of  exposition  can  be  judged  from 
the  following  quotation  taken  from  the  Record  Union  article 
above  referred  to : 

Grower.  Now,  permit  me  briefly  to  recapitulate  what 
has  so  far  been  the  subject  of  discussion,  and  let  us  see  what 
conclusion  we  have  arrived  at.  You  said:  "that  the  com- 
mercial and  industrial  interests  of  California  were  on  the 
decline  ?  " 

Merchant.    Yes. 

Grower.    This  decline,  you  said,  was  caused  by  the 


FIRST  PUBLIC  ACTIVITIES  89 

almost  extinction  of  the  mining  interests  and  the  loss  of 
trade  in  the  Northern  and  Southern  parts  of  the  Pacific 
Coast,  and  that  we  can  never  hope  to  regain  the  trade  ? 

Merchant.    Yes. 

Grower.  You  say  that  if  we  could  increase  by  con- 
centration the  density  of  our  population  to  a  number  equal 
to  those  lost  by  reason  of  decline  in  the  mining  interests 
and  those  formerly  tributary  in  the  Northern  and  Southern 
parts  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  commerce  and  industry  would 
revive  as  in  former  times  ? 

Merchant.    Yes,  sir. 

Grower.  You  are  opposed  to  the  immigration  of  more 
of  the  labor  element  for  the  present  ? 

Merchant.     Yes. 

Grower.  You  are  likewise  opposed  to  the  method 
pursued  by  speculators  and  land  manipulators,  who,  you 
claim,  give  us  a  pseudo-population,  many  of  whom  cannot 
find  it  possible  to  make  a  living,  while  others  do  so  under 
great  difficulty.  These,  you  claim,  are  not  permanent  nor 
desirable  ? 

Merchant.    Yes. 

Grower.  You  agreed  that  every  community  has  a  lead- 
ing industry,  and  that  all  the  other  industries  were  con- 
tingent, tributary,  and  dependent  for  their  existence  on  the 
main  industry  ? 

Merchant.    Yes. 

Grower.  That  the  main  industry  of  California  was  in 
a  formative  state  ? 

Merchant.    Yes. 

Grower.  That  if  we  could  influence  the  molding  or 
shaping  of  events  we  should  by  all  means  aim  to  mold  so  as 
to  obtain  the  best  results  ? 

Merchant.    Yes. 

Grower.  That  best  results  meant  a  concentration  or 
augmentation  of  desirable  and  permanent  population  ? 

Merchant.    Yes. 

Grower.  That  wheat-raising  was  preferable  to  cattle- 
raising  because  much  less  land  is  required  ? 

Merchant.    Yes. 

Grower.    That  fruit-raising  was  preferable  to  wheat- 


90  DAVID   LUBIN 

raising  because  much  less  land  is  required  to  raise  fruit 
than  wheat  ? 

Merchant.    Yes,  sir. 

Grower.  Thus  we  come  to  the  conclusion  that  every 
community  has  some  main  industry  to  which  all  other  in- 
dustries whatsoever  are  tributary,  contingent  and  dependent. 
That  were  we  so  to  mold  and  shape  events  as  to  mdie  fruit- 
growing the  main  industry  of  this  State,  it  would  insure  its 
permanent  prosperity  because  it  would  tend  to  concentrate 
a  denser,  more  permanent,  and  desirable  population  than 
could  be  obtained  by  any  other  industry  whatsoever. 

Merchant.    You  are  right. 

Having  thus  established  as  his  premise  the  importance  of 
the  fruit-growing  industry  to  the  State,  Lubin  proceeds  to 
show  how  it  is  strangled  by  uneconomic  modes  of  distri- 
bution, the  main  responsibility  for  which  lay  with  the 
railroads : 

.  .  .  Grower.  Let  us  now  take  up  the  question  of  trans- 
portation. I  certainly  do  not  think  that  the  railroad  com- 
pany would  intentionally  place  a  bar  to  the  success  of  this  — 
which  promises  to  be  the  foundation  industry.  It  would  be 
the  very  height  of  folly  on  the  part  of  the  railroad  corpora- 
tion to  hamper  in  the  least  the  very  foundation  upon  which 
is  built  the  possibility  of  a  concentrated,  desirable,  and 
permanent  population.  .  .  .  "Fools"  would  be  a  genteel 
appellation  to  apply  to  those  who  would  indulge  in  such 
senseless  conduct.  Traitors  to  the  State,  robbers  of  the 
people,  enemies  of  civilization,  would  be  the  just  and  proper 
appellation  of  such  rare  tyrants.  With  the  corporation  in 
question  no  such  thoughts  need  enter  our  minds.  We  know 
the  men,  the  directors;  were  they  not,  are  they  not  our 
friends  ? 

Apart  from  these  considerations,  however,  we  need 
only  await  the  result  of  their  contemplation  of  the  effect 
their  action  would  have ;  let  them  attempt  to  bar  the  prog- 
ress of  this  industry,  and  what  would  be  the  result  ?  Their 
rails  would  rust,  their  sleepers  rot,  their  cars  would  find  a 
permanent  home  on  the  switch,  spiders  and  jack  rabbits 
would  dwell  in  their  shops.     There  would  be  no  dividends ; 


FIRST  PUBLIC  ACTIVITIES  91 

they  would  be  the  enemies.  New  roads  would  be  sought 
after,  and,  when  found,  the  arch  tyrants  would  be  over- 
thrown. On  the  other  hand,  energetic  and  perhaps  heroic 
action  in  the  direction  of  rendering  valuable  aid  in  this  the 
opportune  time  may  result  in  placing  California  on  a  basis 
of  permanent  prosperity  that  may  be  surpassed  by  no  State  in 
the  Union.  When  such  action  will  be  taken,  the  corpora- 
tion will  have  for  its  friends  the  entire  people  of  this  State. 

This  article  aroused  much  comment  locally ;  but  Lubin's 
efforts  did  not  stop  here.  The  written  word  was  followed 
up  by  a  personal  appeal.  He  made  a  flying  visit  to  New 
York  and  went  straight  to  the  man  who  was  looked  upon  as 
the  chief  representative  of  the  railroad  in  its  "octopus" 
aspect.  He  called  on  Mr.  Huntington  in  his  office ;  was  not 
to  be  put  off  until  he  got  a  hearing ;  and  driving  his  argu- 
ments home  with  sledge-hammer  blows,  he  succeeded  in 
making  a  deep  dent  in  the  steel  plate  of  opposition.  The 
Southern  Pacific  Railroad  was  now  prepared  to  go  a  long 
way  in  adapting  itself  to  the  requirements  of  what  Lubin 
demonstrated  to  be  the  basic  industry  of  California. 

Thus  clear-cut  principles,  direct  statements,  close  reason- 
ing, and  homely  illustration  brought  home  to  reader  or 
listener  the  lesson  which  Lubin  wished  to  teach;  nor  was 
he  slow  to  perceive  the  importance  of  suggestion  and  the 
strength  which  lies  in  persistent  reiteration.  In  inculcating 
ideas  he  brought  to  his  assistance  the  experience  gained  in 
selling  goods.  And  his  views  made  astonishing  headway. 
In  this  case  an  active  six-weeks*  campaign  induced  the  rail- 
roads to  halve  their  rates  and  placed  the  fruit-growers  in  a 
fair  way  to  becoming  the  masters  of  their  crops. 

It  is  true  that  the  plans  adopted  in  bringing  this  about 
differed  considerably  from  those  which  Lubin  himself  had 
advocated.  Under  the  influence  of  Herbert  Spencer  and  the 
individualistic  school  he  feared  the  complexities  and  high 
centralization  of  the  cooperative  organizations  which  most 
of  his  associates  favored.  He  believed  that  if  the  railroads 
would  halve  their  rates  and  allow  the  growers  to  book  quarter 


92  DAVID   LUBIN 

instead  of  whole  carloads,  and  if  marketing  facilities  were 
secured  in  the  Eastern  cities  by  a  system  of  small  partner- 
ships between  grower  and  dealer,  conditions  would  soon  be 
brought  to  normal  in  the  fruit  industry,  and  he  conducted 
an  energetic  campaign  by  pen  and  speech  advocating  solu- 
tions along  these  lines.  However,  the  cooperators  won  the 
day ;  probably  they  were  in  the  right ;  and  Lubin,  true  to 
his  belief  in  democratic  methods,  when  the  fight  had  been 
made  and  the  majority  had  pronounced  itself,  came  squarely 
over  and  stood  by  their  decision.  The  Record  Union  of 
November  13,  1885,  describing  the  meeting  which  resulted 
in  the  organization  of  the  California  Fruit  Union,  reports 
Lubin's  aj^tion  in  these  words : 

"After  a  minute's  silence  David  Lubin  arose  and  said, 
*I  think  something  should  be  done  now  to  relieve  the  fruit- 
growers in  the  direction  of  finding  a  market  for  all  the  good 
fruit  grown  in  the  State,  and  as  nothing  can  be  done  without 
uniting  together,  I  am  in  favor  of  joining  and  having  all  my 
friends  join  this  Union  and  making  it  a  vast  and  grand  con- 
cern for  the  good  of  California.  Let  us  bury  all  differences  of 
opinion  and  all  prejudices,  and  work  for  a  single  aim, ' " 

There  was  nothing  of  the  "sorehead"  about  David  Lubin. 
While  he  had  the  persistency,  single-mindedness,  and  pro- 
found conviction  of  the  fanatic,  he  was  free  from  the  latter's 
limitations.  Unbending  where  principle  was  involved,  he 
could  compromise  on  details  of  execution. 

Commenting  at  the  time  on  the  whole  campaign  and  on 
David  Lubin's  part  in  it,  a  local  paper  printed :  "The  indi- 
vidual labors  of  Mr.  Lubin  during  the  past  six  weeks  will 
be  productive  of  incalculable  good.  He  has  brought  the 
fruit  interests  prominently  before  the  merchants  of  the 
State;  he  caused  a  recognition  to  be  made  of  the  future 
greatness  of  the  industry  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
in  San  Francisco,  and  has  pointed  out  many  facts  pertinent 
thereto  to  many  of  the  leading  newspapers  in  the  State." 

But  it  required  more  than  railway  rate  reductions  and 
cooperative  action  on  the  part  of  the  growers  to  solve  the 


FIRST  PUBLIC  ACTIVITIES  93 

complicated  questions  involved  in  the  successful  disposal 
of  California's  fruit  on  the  markets  of  Chicago  and  New 
York.  The  1886  shipping  season  opened  as  disastrously 
as  those  of  the  two  preceding  years.  The  fruit-growers  were 
again  in  despair ;  again  they  talked  of  the  collapse  of  their 
industry. 

As  usual,  the  reaction  in  Lubin  was  dynamic ;  difficulties 
only  roused  the  "Irish"  in  him,  as  he  used  to  term  the 
fighting  spirit.  "Seventy  per  cent  Irish  and  thirty  per  cent 
spirit"  was  his  formula  for  the  man  of  action;  obstacles 
only  arose  to  be  overcome.  Long  consultations  and  de- 
bates followed  with  his  partner  and  co-worker,  Mr.  Wein- 
stock ;  he  discussed  the  question  in  the  Grange  and  in  the 
press;  many  proposals  were  made,  some  advocated  by 
Lubin  with  much  zeal,  but  no  real  remedy  was  found.  At 
last  it  was  decided  between  the  partners  that  Mr.  Weinstock 
should  go  East  as  a  sort  of  self-appointed  commissioner  to 
investigate  the  situation  from  the  buyer's  end,  and  not 
long  after  Lubin  himself  sailed  for  Europe  on  a  trip  on  which, 
as  usual,  he  sought  not  only  relaxation  but  the  solution  of 
the  problems  with  which  his  thoughts  were  engaged.  Mr. 
Weinstock's  inquiries  led  him  to  the  belief  that  the  solution 
of  the  grower's  difficulties  was  to  be  found  in  selling  the 
fruits,  on  their  arrival  in  the  Eastern  cities,  at  public  auction. 
About  the  same  time  Lubin  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing 
in  London  the  way  in  which  the  auction  system  worked  in 
the  disposal  of  fresh  fruits  in  Covent  Garden  market,  and  his 
cable  on  his  observations  reached  the  California  Fruit  Union 
to  confirm  the  conclusions  arrived  at  in  Mr.  Weinstock's  re- 
port. The  plan  was  adopted  and  proved  an  instantaneous 
success. 

Thus,  in  his  first  piece  of  public  work,  Lubin  had  done 
much  to  place  on  a  solid  foundation  an  industry  which, 
spreading  later  throughout  the  State  and  assuming  truly 
vast  proportions  in  the  South  under  the  fostering  care  of  the 
California  Citrus  Fruit  Exchange,  has  done  so  much  for  the 
economic  prosperity  of  the  West.    And  what  was  true  of 


94  DAVID  LUBIN 

him  in  this  particular  instance  was  true  throughout  his  career. 
It  was  Lubin's  part  through  life  to  sow  ideas  broadcast,  to 
drive  home  his  points,  to  carry  conviction  both  by  the  sound- 
ness of  his  logic  and  by  the  power  of  the  faith  that  was  in 
him.  But  his  suggestions  were  rarely  carried  out  in  the  form 
in  which  he  proposed  them.  Frequently,  indeed,  his  ideas 
would  be  slightingly  set  aside,  the  so-called  "practical"  men 
—  the  "grocery  men"  as  Lubin  called  them  —  treating 
him  as  a  visionary  or  a  crank.  Yet  time  after  time  those 
very  same  ideas  would  be  taken  up  a  little  later  on,  some- 
times modified  and  not  infrequently  marred  in  their  detail, 
and  then  carried  into  effect.  When,  however,  the  time  came 
to  distribute  the  honors,  the  name  of  David  Lubin  would 
often  be  conspicuous  by  its  absence.  He  was  never  one  to 
scramble  for  a  place  on  the  band-wagon. 


CHAPTER  VI 

LUBIN   THE   SACRAMENTAN 

We  must  figure  David  Lubin  during  these  years  of  man- 
hood's prime  as  an  unusual  and  picturesque  figure  in  the 
life  of  his  home  town.  The  older  generation  of  citizens 
have  vivid  memories  of  him  as  he  walked  the  streets  of 
Sacramento,  prominent  in  all  movements  for  promoting 
the  commercial  or  educational  interests  of  the  city,  taking 
an  active  and  intense  part  in  the  life  of  the  community  in 
which  he  lived.  Now  fighting  "boss  rule",  by  urging  on 
electors  the  duties  of  citizenship;  now  debating  a  religious 
or  philosophic  problem ;  using  the  counting-house,  the  store, 
the  advertising  columns  of  the  local  press,  the  farm  or  the 
Grange  as  an  educational  forum. 

Given  to  bold  speculative  thinking  along  national  or 
even  broader  lines,  yet  conditioned  by  an  environment 
essentially  narrow  and  provincial,  the  humanity  of  the  man 
was  too  strong  for  him  ever  to  lose  touch  with  his  fellow 
citizens.  He  could  always  see  in  the  local  problems  they 
had  to  solve  an  angle  or  facet  of  the  universal,  the  micro- 
cosm in  which  the  macrocosm  is  reflected.  Actively  engaged 
as  a  merchant,  and  dependent  for  his  income  on  his  store, 
he  had  nevertheless  come  to  conceive  of  agriculture  as  the 
fountain-head  of  national  prosperity,  the  primary  source 
whence  wealth  percolated  down  from  the  rural  to  the  urban 
districts.  Consequently  he  was  ever  on  the  lookout  to 
promote  that  prosperity  not  as  a  matter  of  individual  ad- 
vantage but  of  general  benefit. 

Thus  believing,  he  spared  no  efforts  to  acquaint  himself 
thoroughly  with  the  economic  problems  of  the  farm.  He 
joined  the  local  Grange  and  became  one  of  its  leading  mem- 
bers, bringing  up  for  discussion  at  its  meetings  the  problems 


96  DAVID  LUBIN 

on  which  he  was  engaged.  Absorbed  in  the  questions  he 
was  studying,  anxious  to  view  them  in  all  their  aspects,  he 
went  about  debating  them  with  his  neighbors  in  town  and 
country,  much  as  Socrates  of  old  went  about  among  the 
Athenians  of  his  day. 

Debate  was  the  breath  of  his  nostrils,  and  he  was  equally 
willing  to  thrash  out  a  question  with  a  wage  laborer,  a  pro- 
fessor, a  business  man  or  a  farmer.  He  would  pin  his  man 
down  and  argue  his  point  out,  in  and  out  of  season,  never  a 
deeming  time  wasted  in  clarifying  a  thought  or  digging 
down  to  fundamental  truths  underlying  commonly  accepted 
facts.  Plato's  dialogues  and  Cicero's  disputations  had  early  l 
been  among  his  favorites  in  literature,  and  he  became  no 
mean  adept  in  the  art  of  Socratic  reasoning,  which  he  con- 
ducted in  the  picturesque  lingo  of  the  Bret  Harte  miner. 

Between  the  acts  of  his  main  life  work  we  catch  glimpses 
of  him  engaged  in  multifarious  activities.  I  have  said 
elsewhere  that  Lubin  was  lacking  in  the  aesthetic  sense; 
he  had  no  instinctive  delight  in  and  knowledge  of  the  great 
as  opposed  to  the  merely  pretty  or  the  trivial  in  art,  and  his 
lack  of  instinct  in  this  matter  had  never  been  supplemented 
by  training,  but  intellectually  he  conceived  of  the  aesthetic 
as  occupying  a  lofty  place  in  the  scheme  of  things,  deserving 
of  deference  and  cultivation.  Impressed  by  the  art  treasures 
in  the  galleries  and  cities  of  Europe  and  by  the  educational 
value  of  museums,  he  became  the  guiding  spirit  in  founding 
a  society  known  as  the  California  Museum  Association. 
I  have  often  heard  him  refer  to  the  days  in  1885  when  he 
worked  with  leading  citizens  for  this  purpose.  "Chris 
Green,  a  butcher  with  a  lame  foot,  was  made  president,  and 
I  was  one  of  the  directors,  and  what  we  and  our  fellow  work- 
ers in  this  field  did  not  know  about  art  would  have  filled 
not  a  book  but  a  library,"  he  would  say.  The  Association 
must  have  had  some  points  of  resemblance  with  that  one 
"upon  the  Stanislaw"  immortalized  by  Bret  Harte,  but  if 
the  committee  had  only  third-class  knowledge,  it  certainly 
had  first-class  ambition. 


LUBIN  THE  SACRAMENTAN  97 

"California  ought  to  be  the  home  of  plastic  art.  What 
is  the  matter  with  our  American  boys  ?  Has  any  parent  a 
son  with  a  taste  in  that  direction  ?  Encourage  it,  bring  him 
here,  and  let  us  build  up  a  school  of  sculpture  in  hot  Sacra- 
mento ;  Florence  is  hotter.  All  the  natural  conditions  are 
favorable  to  us;  who  knows  but  that  here  Michaelangelos 
and  Canovas  may  be  developed  and  make  all  the  world  bow 
the  knee  to  Sacramento  genius,"  exclaimed  Director  Lubin 
in  one  of  his  addresses. 

The  physical  resemblance  between  California  and  the 
Mediterranean  countries  impressed  him  deeply ;  he  used  to 
say  that  both  were  the  natural  home  of  the  "aristocrats 
of  the  Plant  world",  the  peach,  the  apricot,  the  vine,  the 
orange,  the  almond;  and  he  claimed  the  Mediterranean 
Basin  as  the  home  of  the  aristocrats  of  the  human  family, 
of  the  "three  princes  of  the  Lord"  who  had  given  the  world 
its  Religion,  its  Art,  its  Philosophy  and  its  Law,  —  the  Jew, 
the  Greek,  and  the  Roman.  He  believed  that  California, 
with  similarity  in  climate,  in  scenery,  in  vegetation,  and 
with  the  added  advantages  of  vast  natural  resources,  the 
inestimable  benefits  of  developing  under  free,  democratic 
institutions,  and  of  starting  economically  with  a  clean  slate, 
would,  in  time,  become  a  great  Empire  State,  the  Italy  of 
the  New  World  in  artistic  and  intellectual  genius  as  well 
as  in  natural  beauties. 

Working  in  those  early  days  with  most  unpromising 
material,  hampered  by  his  own  woeful  ignorance  in  matters 
esthetic,  Lubin,  by  sheer  force  of  will,  succeeded  in  arousing 
interest  in  his  views  and  in  making  a  start  which,  had  the 
environment  been  less  dead  to  such  matters,  could  not  have 
failed  to  develop.  He  dragged  his  coadjutors  along  chained 
to  the  chariot  of  his  own  enthusiasms,  and  succeeded,  in 
1885,  in  getting  together  a  loan  exhibition  of  artistic,  scien- 
tific, and  historic  objects,  for  the  display  of  which  the  local 
magnate,  Mrs.  Margaret  Crocker,  lent  the  art  gallery 
attached  to  her  mansion,  an  elaborate,  expensive,  and,  let 
it  be  said,  a  very  ugly  stone  building,  then  the  pride  of 


98  DAVID  LUBIN 

Sacramento.     On  this  occasion,  David  Lubin  delivered  the 
opening  address,  from  which  we  quote  the  following : 

In  canvassing  for  life  members  the  committee  had  certain 
experiences  not  laid  down  in  the  program  and  which,  for 
the  time  being,  produced  an  effect  that  almost  neutralized 
their  ambitious  zeal.  "What  do  you  want  a  museum  for?  " 
said  one;  "can't  you  see  all  the  old  stuff  you  want  in  a 
junk  shop  .f* " 

Another  said,  "Museum?  Nonsense!  Hideous  idols, 
Indian  clubs,  scalps,  old  Patent  Office  reports,  cranky 
models  of  impossible  inventions,  old  mummies  that  have  a 
suspicious  smell  about  them,  plaster-of-Paris  men  and 
women  with  no  clothes  on  them,  bottles  with  nasty  worms 
so  carefully  preserved  as  to  save  them  intact  for  the  day  of 
resurrection,  and  to  add  to  this  insult  to  common  sense, 
long-winded  names  that  would  puzzle  the  very  Chief  of 
Hades  to  get  into  plain  solid  English.  Trash  and  nonsense  ! 
No  museum  for  me  !  " 

A  third  said,  "  Museum,  indeed  !  Who  goes  to  a  museum  ? 
Lank  and  lean  young  men  who  wear  their  hair  long  and 
parted  in  the  middle,  whose  mysterious  appearance  is  height- 
ened by  their  eyeglass  string,  significantly  looped  over  the 
left  ear ;  or  the  old  codger  who  mopes  around  musty  books, 
who  delights  in  antediluvian  remains,  whose  burden  of 
lamentations  consists  in  groaning  after  the  missing  link. 
No,  sir !  I  don't  want  a  museum  !  When  I  want  progress, 
I'll  send  my  boy  to  the  most  progressive  machine  shop  or 
business  house." 

And  so  it  comes  to  pass  that  when  a  man  lives  by  bread 
alone  his  mind  becomes  dyspeptic.  Shop  and  nothing  but 
shop  soon  converts  a  man  into  a  boot,  an  overall,  a  barrel 
of  sugar,  a  banknote,  or  a  mortgage  squeezer.  Practical? 
Come,  oh,  practical  stomach,  let  us  write  the  biography  of 
one  such  as  you.  Don't  be  impatient.  We  won't  detain 
you  long.  Birth,  Feed-money,  Death.  No  sooner  dead, 
when  your  hard-earned  gold  vanishes  like  a  puff  of  smoke 
into  hands  other  than  you  wished  or  dreamt  of .  .  .  .  How 
unlike  "the  image  of  God",  such  men  are,  allied  by  instinct 
and  capacity  to  the  brute.  These  are  the  men  above  all  who 
have  need  of  a  museum 


LUBIN  THE  SACRAMENTAN  99 

Untaught,  man  is  but  a  large  child;  he  can  be  best 
taught  by  objects.  Nor  need  any  one  feel  ashamed  to  take 
lessons  in  the  ABC  book  of  nature,  for  the  greatest  scholars 
in  the  world  learn  direct  from  objects.  ...  If  his  state  of 
development  debars  him  for  the  time  being  from  learning 
fruitful  lessons  from  the  limitless  laws  of  nature,  let  him 
begin  with  the  actions  and  motives  of  man,  primitive  man. 
The  savage  will  be  a  good  object  to  begin  with.  Let  him 
examine  the  stone  axe,  the  flint  arrow,  the  armor,  the  cloth- 
ing, the  war  club  and  implements  of  labor.  Let  him  observe 
these  well ;  also  call  to  his  assistance  the  observations  of 
other  men  by  conversation  and  books.  Let  him  compare 
his  mode  of  living  with  theirs,  draw  conclusions,  and  he  is 
doing  —  what  ?  Generalizing :  he  is  on  the  highway  to 
learning.  Let  him  continue  step  by  step,  lesson  by  lesson, 
advancing  upward  in  the  scale,  until  he  reaches  the  limit  of 
his  capacity.  And  if  that  be  of  a  high  order  there  is  no 
reason  why  the  former  rustic  may  not  in  time  rival  the 
learned  philosopher. 

This  is  one  of  the  offices  of  the  museum.  It  is  the  channel 
for  intellectual  development.  It  is  the  true  emancipator 
of  the  mind.  .  .  .  By  lending  a  helping  hand  an  institution 
will  be  built  up  that  will  prove  of  lasting  benefit  ...  an 
institution  in  whose  close  proximity  will  spring  up  technical 
schools  of  art,  science,  music,  literature,  and  industry,  fitting 
ornaments  for  God's  most  favored  people,  teaching  the  art 
of  progressive  peace. 

This  exhibition,  which  was  an  unqualified  success,  had 
an  epilogue  illustrative  of  Lubin's  impetuous  action,  when 
once  his  mind  was  fully  made  up. 

Judge  Crocker,  one  of  the  original  directors  of  the  Central 
Pacific  Railroad,  grown  rich  "beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice" 
had  traveled  through  Europe  in  the  early  seventies,  and  with 
the  help  of  the  guides,  antiquity  dealers,  and  other  such 
legalized  brigands  who  assist  American  millionaires,  with 
more  money  than  knowledge,  to  spend  their  dollars,  had 
come  home  with  a  whole  gallery  of  paintings,  such  as  one 
might  expect  would  be  thus  brought  together,  many  digni- 
fied by  the  names  of  masters  who  would  turn  in  their  graves 


100  DAVID  LUBIN 

could  they  see  the  canvases  attributed  to  them.  These 
were  lodged  in  the  Crocker  art  gallery,  which  was  lent  for 
the  loan  exhibition  by  the  Judge's  widow,  a  generous- 
hearted,  simple  old  soul,  a  woman  of  the  people,  unspoiled 
by  the  adulation  and  deference  which  great  wealth  brings 
in  its  train.  Lubin  was  a  favorite  with  Mrs.  Crocker,  and 
had  for  her  a  very  sincere  regard.  To  his  untutored  eye 
the  gallery  was  indeed  a  palace  of  art,  though  his  shrewd 
wit  led  him  to  suspect  that  the  old  Judge  had  been  badly 
swindled  on  more  than  one  occasion. 

As  the  date  drew  near  for  closing  the  exhibition,  Lubin 
became  obsessed  by  the  idea  that  the  Crocker  Art  Gallery 
should  belong  to  Sacramento,  that  it  should  be  the  worthy 
nucleus  of  the  museum  of  his  dreams,  Mrs.  Crocker's 
children  were  all  settled  elsewhere,  and  his  mind's  eye  saw 
the  palatial  residence  with  its  treasured  contents  dispersed 
by  indifferent  heirs;  the  empty  halls  falling  from  their 
high  estate,  used  perhaps  as  warehouses  or  storerooms. 

On  the  day  before  the  exhibition  was  to  close,  Lubin 
came  to  his  oflBce  looking  as  if  he  had  passed  a  sleepless 
night.  He  confided  to  Mr.  Weinstock  the  thoughts  which 
had  kept  him  awake,  and  as  he  talked  them  over  he  worked 
himself  up  to  such  a  pitch  of  enthusiasm  that  he  grabbed  his 
hat  and  bolted  out  of  the  door,  saying,  "I  am  going  to  Mrs. 
Crocker  right  now  to  persuade  her  to  give  the  gallery  to  the 
city." 

Lubin  loved  to  tell  how  he  waited  on  the  simple,  kindly 
old  lady,  living  alone  amidst  the  pompous  opulence  of 
the  home  of  which  Sacramento  was  so  proud ;  how  he  went 
straight  to  the  point  he  had  at  heart,  picturing  with  vivid 
words  the  fate  awaiting  the  building  and  its  contents  when 
she  would  be  no  more;  the  curious  strangers  pricing  the 
treasures,  while  the  auctioneer  prepared  to  disperse  them 
among  an  indifferent  crowd  of  bargain  seekers;  and  as  he 
saw  that  his  words  were  going  home,  he  came  boldly  out 
with  his  proposal :  Mrs.  Crocker  should  present  the  building 
and  its  contents  to  Sacramento,  thus  making  it  a  lasting 


LUBIN  THE  SACRAMENTAN  101 

monument  to  the  late  Judge  and  to  herself,  a  permanent 
benefaction  to  the  city,  the  seed  whence  the  future  artistic 
greatness  of  California  was  to  spring.  When  his  bewildered 
listener,  to  whom  the  whole  idea  was  startlingly  new,  said 
that  she  would  think  it  over,  he  overpowered  her  by  declaring 
that  the  time  to  act  was  there  and  then ;  that  the  loan  exhi- 
bition was  to  close  the  next  evening,  and  that  its  success 
would  be  crowned  if  she  would  publicly  announce  on  the 
closing  night  that  the  gallery  and  its  contents  were  to  be 
presented  by  her  as  a  gift  to  Sacramento. 

*'0f  course  I  had  hoped  for  an  immediate  favorable 
answer,"  Lubin  used  to  say,  "but  Mrs.  Crocker  pointed  out 
that  this  was  the  first  moment  that  the  idea  had  ever  been 
suggested  or  had  come  to  her  mind,  and  that  she  must  have 
time  to  think  it  over."  She  finally  promised  to  give  her 
answer  the  following  morning. 

Lubin  spent  another  sleepless  night,  hoping  for  a  favor- 
able and  fearing  an  unfavorable  reply.  At  the  earliest 
permissible  hour  the  next  morning  he  was  waiting  on  Mrs. 
Crocker  to  learn  her  decision.  It  was  favorable.  The 
idea  had  appealed  to  the  old  lady  as  wise  and  proper,  and 
she  asked  him  to  announce  the  totally  unexpected  and  gener- 
ous benefaction  at  the  closing  gathering  of  the  loan  exhibition 
that  evening. 

"But  it  is  your  gift,  Mrs.  Crocker,  and  you  must  make 
the  announcement.  You  must  give  the  people  of  Sacra- 
mento the  pleasure  of  learning  this  great  news  from  your 
own  lips." 

"Lor',  Mr.  Lubin,  I  could  never  make  a  speech,  you  know 
I  couldn't ;  how  could  such  an  idea  come  to  your  head  ?  " 

"Well,  I'll  tell  you  what,  Mrs.  Crocker,  you'll  stand  on 
the  platform ;  I  '11  make  the  speech,  and  you  '11  nod.  —  You 
can  do  that,  can't  you  ?  " 

And  so  they  compromised.  That  evening,  when  the 
main  gallery  was  crowded  for  the  closing  exercises,  the 
Mayor  announced  that  Mrs.  Crocker  had  an  important 
statement  to  make.     Escorted  by  David  Lubin  the  old  lady 


102  DAVID  LUBIN 

was  led  to  the  platform,  and  while  he  announced  in  her 
name  the  gracious  gift,  she  nodded  her  kind  old  head  vigor- 
ously, and  was  almost  overwhelmed  by  the  manifestations 
of  grateful  enthusiasm  of  her  fellow  citizens. 

In  1888  Lubin  took  a  prolonged  trip  through  the  leading 
European  countries,  paying  particular  attention  to  their 
agricultural  methods  and  development,  as  far  as  he  was  able 
to  observe  them.  In  the  series  of  letters  he  wrote  home,  pub- 
lished in  the  Sacramento  Bee  and  the  Pacific  Rural  Press,  it  is 
curious  to  note  the  combination  of  acute  observation  with  the 
prejudice  and  ignorance  of  the  uncultured  American  regard- 
ing things  European,  an  ignorance  and  prejudice  equaled 
only  by  that  of  the  average  European  regarding  America. 
Europe  is  to  Lubin  the  continent  of  despotic  monarchies, 
effete  aristocracies,  and  downtrodden  peoples,  where  crowned 
kings  rule  and  prostrate  subjects  obey.  But  though  his 
patriotic  pride  in  California  calls  forth  many  unfavorable 
comparisons,  we  can  see  that  his  travels  were  sowing  the 
seeds  of  that  broad-minded  vision  which  was  to  make  him 
later  on  so  powerful  a  factor  in  laying  the  foundations  for 
sound  internationalism. 

For  instance,  after  visiting  the  country  round  Naples  he 
writes :  "It  would  be  a  paying  investment  and  a  new  era  in 
the  history  of  California  if  some  several  hundred  farmers 
and  fruit  raisers  were  to  come  to  Europe  and  make  a  few 
observations  on  tillage.  I  would  recommend  them  to  visit 
the  land  situated  between  Rome  and  Naples.  The  entire 
country,  consisting  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  miles  of 
land,  is  literally  a  garden.  The  soil  is  stirred  to  a  depth  of 
about  ten  inches,  thoroughly  mingled,  very  finely  pulverized, 
and  levelled  perfectly.  .  .  .  These  fields  have  been  regu- 
larly cropped  many  centuries  before  the  time  of  the  Csesars, 
and  yet  they  will  put  to  shame  by  their  results  and  crops 
land  in  California  that  was  originally  richer,  but  which 
fifteen  or  twenty  years  of  unintelligent  or  dishonest  labor 
have  impoverished." 

Again,  writing  from  Spain  he  says :  "Preconceived  notions 


LUBIN  THE  SACRAMENTAN  103 

of  Spanish  character,  as  received  from  ideas  of  Spanish 
history  in  the  Netherlands  and  in  the  history  of  South 
America,  would  lead  one  to  suppose  that  the  people  here  are 
semi-savages;  but  I  was  agreeably  surprised  to  find  that 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases  the  people  are  exceedingly 
polite,  aflFable,  generous  and  hospitable." 

Here  again,  as  in  Italy,  his  inclination  to  presume  that 
the  Old  World  countries  were  necessarily  "back  numbers" 
in  all  practical  concerns  such  as  scientific  agriculture,  re- 
ceived some  salutary  shocks.  It  was  while  traveling  on  a 
train  in  the  south  of  Spain  that  he  fell  into  conversation 
with  a  Spanish  grandee  and  landowner,  who,  amused  at 
Lubin's  evident  conviction  of  American  superiority  in  all 
such  matters,  invited  him  to  visit  his  farms  in  Andalusia 
and  to  see  what  was  still  got  out  of  soil  that  had  been  cul- 
tivated for  some  two  thousand  years.  While  watching  on 
this  farm  the  careful  tillage  by  which  the  Spanish  peasant 
laboriously  "comminuted  the  soil",  so  different  from  the 
superficial  harrowing  to  which  Lubin  was  accustomed,  he 
conceived  the  idea  of  a  mechanical  device  by  which  the  same 
results  might  be  attained  as  he  then  saw  secured  by  the  hoe. 
On  his  return  to  California  he  elaborated  this  idea  and  devised 
a  machine  which  did  the  trick,  but  which  in  after  years 
among  his  friends  came  to  be  known  as  the  "Lubin  Tribu- 
lator",  so  much  effort  did  he  devote  to  it  from  time  to 
time. 

The  monuments  bearing  witness  to  the  Moorish  and 
Jewish  civilizations  in  medieval  Spain  fascinated  him.  In 
one  of  his  letters  he  tells  how,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and 
two  children,  he  visited  in  Seville  the  former  Jewish  quarter 
with  its  synagogues,  seized  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews 
and  given  over  to  the  Catholic  Church,  and  of  a  long  and 
curious  debate  he  had  with  a  Spanish  friar,  in  which  Ameri- 
can Jew  and  Catholic  priest,  meeting  in  a  former  temple  of 
the  Jewish  faith  in  medieval  Seville,  discussed  theology 
through  the  medium  of  an  interpreter.  Sincere  in  his  own 
beliefs  Lubin  had  a  great  respect  for  those  of  others.     Reli- 


104  DAVID  LUBIN 

gion  to  him  was  the  sacred  aspiration  of  the  soul  toward 
its  Fountain  Head. 

From  Spain  he  went  through  Italy  to  Austria  and  was 
greatly  impressed  by  the  wisdom  of  the  forestry  laws  of  that 
country  which  made  it  compulsory,  whenever  trees  were  cut 
down,  to  replant  as  many  on  the  same  ground.  He  wrote  in 
comment  on  this  in  1888,  long  before  the  dawn  of  the  "con- 
servation" movement: 

There  is  no  question  touching  the  welfare  of  California 
that  is  of  so  much  importance  as  is  the  one  of  forestry.  We 
have  a  beautiful  climate,  but  we  are  permitting  it  to  be 
stolen,  —  tree  by  tree,  the  climate  goes,  never  to  return. 
The  foothill  man  will  catch  the  flood  first,  but  the  valley 
man  will  catch  the  drought  first  —  so  both  will  be  evenly 
and  properly  paid  for  their  neglect  if  they  permit  the  destruc- 
tion. Even  at  the  present  time,  if  an  investigation  should 
be  made,  it  would  be  found  advisable  to  retrace  former 
error  by  beginning  the  costly  work  of  afforestation.  Any 
one  conversant  with  the  locality  will  tell  you  that  in  and 
around  certain  portions  of  Mohawk  Valley  in  Arizona 
there  are  times  when  torrents  of  water  rush  down  the  sides 
of  the  mountains  and  in  a  few  hours  wash  away  miles  of 
railroad  track.  Look  at  the  mountains ;  they  are  bare  and 
barren.  There  you  have  the  cause  —  cause  not  alone  of 
flood  but  also  of  drought;  for  nothing  will  grow  in  that 
region  unless  irrigated. 

You  ascend  on  the  higher  reaches  of  land,  and  what  do  you 
find?  Bowlders,  gravel,  sand.  A  citizen,  knowing  these 
facts  to  be  true,  who  does  not  raise  his  voice  or  make  an 
effort  to  have  this  forest  destruction  stopped,  is  neither 
faithful  to  his  State  nor  loyal  to  his  Country. 

The  technical  schools  and  commercial  museums  of  Austria 
and  Germany  impressed  him  as  powerful  instruments  for 
the  development  of  foreign  trade,  instruments  in  which  the 
United  States  was  then  deficient.     He  writes  from  Berlin  : 

Much  attention  is  paid  to  foreign  commerce,  and  by 
reason  of  their  push  and  energy  they  have  a  firm  foothold  on 


LUBIN  THE  SACRAMENTAN  105 

the  trade  of  South  America  to  the  exclusion  of  American 
manufactures.  This  is  not  brought  about  by  any  reason  of 
greater  merit  or  cheapness  of  their  goods  over  those  of  the 
United  States,  but  because  of  more  energy  and  greater  skill 
in  their  disposition  and  distribution.  In  other  words,  they 
are  better  merchants. 

In  London  the  traveler  was  deeply  impressed  by  the  value 
of  the  great  exhibitions,  such  as  that  which  Italy  was  then 
holding  in  the  English  capital,  as  a  means  of  promoting 
trade  and  industrial  development.  He  also  made  it  his 
business  to  inquire  into  the  market  for  California  canned 
fruits  and  to  note  the  causes,  such  as  careless  selection  and 
packing,  which  hindered  them  from  securing  the  place  they 
have  subsequently  come  to  occupy.  Here  also  he  witnessed 
the  disposal  of  green  fruits  by  auction  at  Covent  Garden 
market,  and  cabled  home  to  the  California  Fruit  Union 
recommending  this  method  of  marketing  almost  at  the  same 
time  that  Colonel  Weinstock  was  advising  it  as  the  result  of 
his  independent  investigations. 

On  this  trip  he  visited  Ireland  and  used  to  narrate  with 
gusto  the  following  experience  in  Dublin  with  a  guide  proud 
of  local  progress. 

"The  guide  took  us  to  a  fire-engine  house,  and  pointing 
to  a  dilapidated  old  engine  said,  'Look  at  that  now.  When 
we  has  a  fire,  we  takes  that  and  squirts  the  water  on  it 
by  machinery.  What  do  you  think  of  that?'  I  replied, 
telling  him  that  we  also  have  fire-engines  in  the  United 
States.  He  then  asked  me  if  we  pulled  them  with  horses, 
and  I  said,  'Yes,  more  than  that.  On  the  occurrence  of  a 
fire  an  alarm  is  sounded,  the  driver  jumps  on  his  seat,  the 
horses  run  to  their  places,  the  harness  drops  down  and  ad- 
justs itself  automatically,  the  door  opens,  and  before  you 
could  say  Jack  Robinson  half  a  dozen  times  the  engine  is 
off  to  the  fire.*  'Well,'  replied  the  Irishman,  'I  always 
heard  that  there  were  liars  in  America,  but  I  never  thought 
there  were  such  d — d  liars  as  all  that.*  " 

On  his  return  to  Sacramento  in  the  autumn  of  1888  Lubin 


106  DAVID  LUBIN 

brought  back  two  proposals  for  practical  action.  The 
first  was  that  the  economic  interests  of  California  would  be 
greatly  promoted  by  opening  in  London  a  permanent  exhi- 
bition of  the  natural  beauties,  latent  resources,  and  agri- 
cultural and  industrial  products  of  the  State. 

His  intuitive  faculty  enabled  Lubin  to  grasp  the  various 
links  in  the  chain  of  cause  and  effect  and  arrive  at  the  ulti- 
mate, while  others  were  yet  struggling  to  master  the  first 
principles.  While  the  California  fruit-grower  was  only 
just  beginning  to  realize  that  he  need  not  necessarily  root 
up  his  orchards  as  a  remedy  for  overproduction,  that  organ- 
ization could  place  within  his  reach  the  markets  east  of 
the  Rockies,  Lubin  already  saw  California  fruits  on  the 
table  of  every  European  hotel,  saw  her  oranges  and  lemons 
competing  on  the  great  London  emporium  with  those  of  the 
Mediterranean  countries,  and  visualized  the  then  straggling 
towns  and  villages  of  Los  Angeles,  Pasadena,  San  Diego, 
and  Santa  Barbara  as  the  rivals  of  the  Riviera  for  the  tour- 
ist trade  of  the  world. 

His  ideas  aroused  interest  and  some  considerable  response, 
but,  on  the  whole,  the  food  was  too  rich  for  those  to  whom 
it  was  offered.  He  did,  indeed,  carry  the  exhibition  pro- 
posal almost  to  a  successful  issue ;  secured  the  appointment 
of  an  influential  committee ;  and,  at  the  cost  of  great  effort, 
a  bill  was  drafted  which  had  every  chance  of  passing  the 
State  Legislature ;  but  when  he  found  that  a  rider  was 
attached  thereto  which,  he  believed,  would  have  made 
the  whole  scheme  a  means  of  political  "graft",  he  refused 
to  have  anything  more  to  do  with  it  and  let  the  whole  thing 
lapse. 

But  it  was  not  only  the  merchant  and  fruit-grower,  it 
was  likewise  the  Director  of  the  California  Museum  Asso- 
ciation who  had  been  traveling  through  the  art  centers  of 
the  Old  World,  and  in  this  capacity  also  he  had  a  suggestion 
to  make. 

While  stopping  in  the  chief  cities  of  Italy  he  had  been 
deeply  impressed  by  the  extraordinary  wealth  of  art  treas- 


LUBIN  THE  SACRAMENTAN  107 

ures  which  that  country  possesses ;  at  the  same  time  he  had 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  Italy's  material  wealth  could  be 
greatly  increased  if  the  old-fashioned  plow,  the  hoe,  and 
the  rake,  made  way  for  modern  farm  machinery.  In  the 
development  of  the  latter  America  was  a  leader.  Why 
should  not  each  country  give  the  other  that  of  which  it  had 
a  superabundance  ?  Why  not  exchange  specimens  of  Italian 
art  for  products  of  the  International  Harvester  Company? 
Why  should  not  Sacramento  become  the  medium  for  this 
exchange  and  secure  for  her  Museum  the  coveted  treasures  ? 
He  had  already  approached  the  American  Embassy  in  Rome, 
and  the  matter  had  been  discussed  in  a  tentative  way  with 
the  Italian  authorities ;  he  now  placed  it  before  his  fellow 
citizens,  hunted  up  the  Italian  consul,  aroused  his  interest 
in  the  proposal,  and  organized  a  committee.  Those  ac- 
quainted with  the  Italian  oflBcial  mind  can  easily  imagine 
how  it  must  have  stood  aghast  at  the  idea  of  such  a  trans- 
mutation of  values,  and  will  not  be  surprised  to  hear  that, 
in  spite  of  strenuous  efforts,  nothing  came  of  the  suggestion. 
But  Lubin  was  tenacious,  and  this  was  not  to  be  his  last 
attempt  to  secure  art  treasures  and  a  worthy  historical 
museum  for  California.  His  early  years  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  State  and  in  Arizona  had  given  him  a  glimpse 
into  the  interest  and  romance  attaching  to  the  fast  disappear- 
ing life  of  the  Indian  tribes  and  to  the  Spanish  Missions 
which,  under  the  saintly  guidance  of  Padre  Junipero  Serra, 
first  brought  civilization  and  Christianity  to  the  shores 
of  the  Pacific.  He  took  the  occasion  offered  by  the  prep- 
arations for  the  State  Fair  in  1892  to  urge  the  desirability 
of  an  historical  exhibit  in  which  should  be  gathered  objects 
illustrative  of  the  primitive  life  of  the  native  Indians,  the 
civilizing  efforts  of  the  eariy  missions  and  their  devoted 
padres,  the  eariy  days  of  the  pioneers  and  the  'forty-niners, 
the  art  of  gold  mining  as  practiced  in  its  various  stages,  the 
relics  of  Spanish  and  Mexican  rule,  the  geology,  flora,  and 
fauna  of  the  Golden  State.  Having  carried  his  point  with 
the  organizing  committee,  he  took  on  himself  the  task  of 


108  DAVID  LUBIN 

traveling  from  place  to  place  and  organizing  local  committees 
to  hunt  up  and  assemble  the  vanishing  relics  of  the  early 
days  in  the  life  of  California, 

Indian  implements  and  weapons,  Spanish  and  Mexican 
costumes  and  heirlooms,  the  precious  mementos  of  the  old 
Spanish  missions  were  brought  to  light,  and  Lubin  succeeded 
in  persuading  their  owners  to  loan  them  for  exhibition.  He 
won  the  friendship,  one  might  say  the  affection,  of  the 
Mission  Fathers,  who,  inspired  with  something  of  his  own 
enthusiasm,  came  to  his  assistance  and  helped  to  make  the 
historic  collection  a  really  remarkable  exhibit.  It  was  felt 
that  such  a  collection  should  not  be  dispersed,  and  Lubin 
hoped  to  see  it  permanently  housed  in  the  one  building  of 
historic  interest  for  Sacramento,  the  Sutter  Fort.  But 
local  apathy  was  stronger  than  his  enthusiasm,  and  the 
opportunity  was  allowed  to  slip  by.  Lubin  was  fond  of  the 
old  Greek  myth  which  represents  Fortune  as  tapping  at  the 
door  of  each  of  us,  very  gently,  and  but  once ;  if  her  call  is 
heard  and  the  door  opened,  the  capricious  goddess  will 
come  in,  but  miss  the  single  chance  and  she  is  gone  for  ever. 
I  thought  of  this  story  as  Lubin  used  to  tell  it  when,  after 
visiting  Sacramento,  I  spent  a  wonderful  morning  in  the 
beautiful  and  interesting  ethnographical  Museum  at  San 
Diego,  which  is  realizing  his  desire  but  not  in  the  home  town 
for  which  he  was  so  ambitious. 

The  divine  fire  was  not  destined  to  burn  steadily  in  Sacra- 
mento. Lit  by  Lubin's  fierce  energy,  it  flared,  flickered, 
and  died  out.  True,  the  Crocker  Art  Gallery  still  stands 
intact,  but  the  formerly  elegant  neighborhood  in  which  it 
was  built  is  now  a  poor  section,  and  the  building,  once  the 
admired  of  all  beholders,  is  now  recognized  as  a  product  of  a 
period  of  degraded  taste.  Still,  its  spacious,  finely  lit 
galleries  with  the  few  good  things  they  contain  would  make 
a  substantial  nucleus  round  which  to  build.  But  David 
Lubin  has  had  no  apostolic  successor.  No  museum  of 
California  is  to  be  found  in  the  State  capital ;  the  seats  of 
art  and  learning  are  elsewhere.     Suffice  it  to  say  that  in 


LUBIN  THE  SACRAMENTAN  109 

this  field  also  he  manfully  played  his  part  of  pioneer,  and 
as  far  as  one  man's  energy  and  enthusiasm  could  do,  his 
did. 

Thus  the  busy  years  fled  by,  while  Lubin  worked  for  his 
town  and  his  State,  in  his  store  and  on  his  farm ;  now  organ- 
izing a  committee  to  promote  the  opening  of  new  factories 
in  Sacramento,  now  working  to  have  a  proper  levee  built  to 
save  the  city  from  the  danger  of  destructive  floods,  such  as 
one  he  had  witnessed  and  taken  an  active  part  in  fighting. 
Nor  was  it  all  work  and  no  play;  he  shared  to  the  full  in 
the  social  life  and  convivialities  of  the  town,  was  "hail  fellow 
well  met"  with  one  and  all,  and  could  enter  into  enjoyment 
as  heartily  as  into  work.  There  was  still  a  good  deal  of 
the  Arizona  frontiersman  about  him ;  now  and  again  he 
would  have  what  he  called  "a  rip-snorting  time."  Generous 
and  open-handed,  there  was  no  initiative  for  the  improve- 
ment of  Sacramento  in  which  he  did  not  participate,  and 
the  Weinstock  and  Lubin  store  had  become  a  real  community 
center  for  the  city. 

His  fearless  integrity  won  him  the  respect  of  all,  even  of 
the  "toughs.**  I  have  heard  him  tell  how  one  day  he  was 
in  a  saloon  when  a  very  rough  character,  a  sort  of  "bad 
man  from  Bodie*'  always  ready  with  his  revolver,  came  in 
and  in  Lubin*s  hearing  began  to  abuse  the  Jews.  Lubin  turned 
on  him:  "You  miserable  barbarian,  you,  still  all  teeth  and 
claws,  you  dare  to  speak  slightingly  of  the  Jews.  Why,  if  it 
were  not  for  the  Jew  and  his  Bible  you  would  probably  still  be 
a  savage  among  your  native  bogs.  Do  you  not  know  that 
when  you  were  born  it  was  a  Jewish  prayer  that  was  read  over 
you,  when  you  were  married  a  Jewish  psalm  was  said,  and 
when  you  die  it  will  again  be  a  Jewish  psalm  which  will  accom- 
pany you  to  the  grave.  Why,  if  you  were  to  go  down  on  your 
knees  at  the  street  comer  and  black  the  boots  of  every  Jew 
that  passed  your  way  from  now  until  the  day  of  your  death, 
you  would  be  unable  to  pay  oflF  one  tithe  of  the  debt  you  owe 
that  people.  And  you,  miserable  brute,  dare  to  abuse!*' 
The  astonished  Irishman,   taken  aback  at  this  outburst, 


110  DAVID  LUBIN 

apologissed.  "I  never  passed  Cavanagh  after  that  but  he 
took  his  hat  off  to  me,"  Lubin  used  to  say. 

He  could  tell  a  good  story  and  it  would  lose  nothing  in 
the  telling.  Let  me  close  this  chapter  of  miscellanies  with 
one  which  he  used  to  relate  with  peculiar  relish.  Sitting 
at  the  right  hand  of  Bishop  Manuogue  at  a  banquet  given 
to  celebrate  the  completion  of  the  Roman  Catholic  cathedral 
in  Sacramento,  Lubin  rejoiced  the  company  with  the  story  of 
how  his  red-headed  Irish  servant  girl,  Norah,  stood  stoutly 
by  her  belief  that  religion  had  originated  with  St.  Patrick 
in  Ireland.  Noticing  a  Catholic  missal  among  her  employer's 
books  she  had  felt  that  it  had  no  place  on  the  shelves  of  an 
infidel,  and  had  summoned  up  courage  to  ask  him  for  it. 

*'Ye  see,  it's  a  book  of  moy  Church,  and  as  ye  doan't 
believe  in  it,  it 's  moy  book,"  she  had  said,  in  pressing  her 
claim. 

"Why,  Norah,"  Lubin  replied,  "I  said  some  of  the  prayers 
in  that  book  in  the  original  tongue  when  I  was  but  a  wee  bit 
of  a  boy." 

"The  original  tongue,"  responded  Norah;  "how's  that? 
Do  ye  know  Oirish  ?" 

"No,"  I  said,  "but  they  were  written  in  Hebrew,  and  I 
knew  enough  Hebrew  to  repeat  them." 

"Haybroo.  Phat's  Haybroo?  Sure,  the  first  man  to 
tache  religion  was  the  Blessed  Sint  Patrick  in  Oirland ! " 

"But  I  tell  you,  they  were  written  in  Hebrew  all  the 
same." 

"Well,"  says  Norah,  "then  they  jist  copied  em." 

"Good  for  Norah,"  gleefully  exclaimed  the  good  Bishop, 
pounding  the  table  with  his  fist ;  "Good  for  Norah !  '* 


CHAPTER  Vn 

TRANSPORTATION  AND   TARIFF 

One  day  in  his  store  Lubin  noted  a  large  stock  of  books ; 
he  looked  it  over.  "Camille,  Wife  in  Name  only",  "The 
Burglar's  Fate",  "A  Crown  of  Shame",  "Strikers  and  Com- 
munists", "A  Rogue's  Life",  "The  Old  Ma'mselle's Secret", 
"Fair  Women",  "Professional  Thieves."  How  came  Wein- 
stock  and  Lubin  to  be  selling  such  stuff?  It  all  came  from 
Eastern  publishing  houses,  and  the  cost  of  carriage  alone 
must  have  represented  a  large  figure.  He  inquired  into 
the  matter  and  found  out  that  these  publications,  coming 
under  the  classification  of  serials,  were  all  transported  through 
the  United  States  mails  at  a  uniform  charge  of  one  cent  a 
pound  in  any  quantities,  and  that  the  large  subsidies  which 
the  publishing  trade  thus  received  from  the  Government 
were  held  to  be  justified  on  the  ground  of  encouraging  the 
spread  of  "literature." 

Somewhere  around  the  same  time  Lubin  had  for  sale 
the  wheat  of  his  Colusa  County  ranch.  It  was  fine  grain, 
and  he  noted  that  the  Liverpool  price  quotations  were  good ; 
yet  the  offers  he  could  get  barely  represented  the  cost  of 
production.  How  was  this  to  be  accounted  for?  He  went 
up  to  San  Francisco  to  inquire  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
The  secretary  was  in  a  hurry  and  briefly  disposed  of  Lubin's 
inquiries  by  saying  "Charters." 

"Charters?  What's  that?"  said  Lubin.  "Just  you  sit 
down  and  tell  me.  I  need  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  this  matter, 
and  that 's  what  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  is  for.  And  just 
tell  me  Arizona  fashion,  with  no  technical  conundrums." 

So  the  secretary  sat  down  and  told  our  friend  all  about  it ; 
how  you  hire  space  in  the  ship  for  carrying  the  grain ;  and 
how  the  charge  for  that  space  varies  according  to  the  rela- 


112  DAVID   LUBIN 

tion  between  supply  and  demand ;  how  a  shortage  of  ships 
at  a  shipping  point  at  the  time  when  they  are  needed  will 
raise  the  cost  of  the  so-called  "charters";  how  this  cost  is 
deducted  by  the  buyer  from  the  price  quoted  for  the  grain 
on  the  world's  chief  buying  market,  Liverpool;  and  how 
the  Liverpool  price,  minus  the  cost  of  transportation  and 
other  subsidiary  charges,  becomes  the  price  at  which  the 
farmer  has  to  sell  his  grain,  and  not  only  the  quantity  sold 
for  export,  but  that  sold  for  consumption  on  the  home 
market  as  well.  "And  so,  you  see,  charters  just  now  are 
very  high,  as  there  is  a  shortage  of  ships  in  the  export  ports, 
and  therefore  the  price  you  can  get  for  your  grain  is  low, 
although  the  Liverpool  price  may  be  high." 

"Ah!  that's  how  it  is,"  mused  Lubin,  and  went  away 
with  much  to  think  over. 

These  two  incidents,  which  occurred  somewhere  round 
1893,  held  in  embryo  the  whole  of  Lubin's  future  work, 
of  which  the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture  was  to 
be  the  logical  and  ultimate  outcome,  and  the  next  ten  years 
of  his  life  —  with  an  interlude  when  he  almost  concluded 
that  problems  of  practical  justice  could  best  be  solved  from 
the  philosophic-religious  approach  —  were  given  up  to  the 
questions  of  transportation  and  tariff,  and  their  influence 
on  price  formation  for  the  staples  of  agriculture. 

In  taking  up  this  new  campaign  he  again  had  recourse 
to  the  Sacramento  Record  Union,  and  set  the  ball  rolling 
with  an  article,  some  four  thousand  words  long,  entitled  a 
"Novel  Proposition  Revolutionizing  the  Distribution  of 
Wealth",  which  appeared  in  that  paper  in  September,  1893. 

Lubin  in  those  days  was  a  protectionist,  first,  last,  and  all 
the  time.  He  based  his  arguments  for  protection  not  on 
economic  grounds  —  even  then  he  was  compelled  to  admit 
that,  economically  speaking,  protection  was  unsound  — 
but  on  political  grounds.  He  argued  that  America  was 
still  a  "great  experiment" ;  that  it  yet  had  to  justify  itself 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  more  especially  that  it  must 
preserve   with   fostering   care   its   democratic   institutions 


TRANSPORTATION  AND  TARIFF  113 

against  contamination  by  deleterious  outside  influences. 
Free  trade,  he  argued,  by  rapidly  developing  the  foreign 
relations  of  the  United  States,  would  induce  a  large  number 
of  young  Americans  to  go  abroad  as  travelers,  agents,  and 
so  forth,  when  contact  with  "despotic  European  countries" 
and  "effete  aristocracies"  would  undermine  the  manhood 
and  republican  principles  of  American  youth. 

This  argument  sounds  crude,  and  so  it  was ;  and  here  we 
come  to  one  of  the  interesting  angles  of  Lubin's  mind ;  the 
way  in  which  the  clear  intuitive  insight  into  essential  facts, 
which  is  one  of  the  gifts  of  genius,  pierced  through  the 
provincialisms,  prejudices,  and  limitations  proper  to  his 
environment  and  his  education. 

"Protection"  was  the  holy  of  holies  of  the  Republican 
party  to  which  he  belonged ;  it  saved  the  American  worker 
from  falling  to  the  low  level  of  his  oppressed  European 
brother ;  it  safeguarded  the  infant  industries  of  the  United 
States,  and  was  the  comer  stone  of  their  prosperity.  Lubin 
accepted  all  this,  but  he  could  not  "think  cant"  and  he 
clearly  saw  that,  as  things  stood,  it  was  the  farmer  who  paid 
for  the  protection  which  the  manufacturer  and  the  industrial 
worker  enjoyed.  The  farmer's  staples  being  exports  could 
not  be  protected  by  a  tariff  on  imports,  and  the  cost  of 
high  protection  to  industries  was  placed  on  the  shoulders 
of  agriculture  without  any  compensating  advantage. 

Now,  this  was  wrong  —  wrong  from  the  standpoint  both 
of  equity  and  of  policy ;  for  any  condition  that  permanently 
impoverished  the  farmer  would,  in  the  long  run,  undermine 
the  prosperity  of  the  nation. 

"Confiscation  of  a  good  portion  of  the  producer's  just 
earnings  is  caused  by  the  protective  tariff;  but  as  I  am  a 
confirmed  protectionist,  and  am  convinced  of  its  tendency 
toward  the  conservation  of  our  American  institutions,  I 
seek  to  perpetuate  it,  but  not  in  its  one-sided  and  unjust 
operations.  Protection  is  politic;  should  it  not  also  be 
just?"  he  asks  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  George  B.  James,  then 
editing  the  American  Cultivator  of  Boston. 


114  DAVID  LUBIN 

Now,  what  was  the  "Novel  Proposition"  by  which  Lubin 
sought  to  achieve  this  justice  ?     Here  it  is  in  his  own  words  : 

To  meet  the  transportation  question,  I  would  suggest 
national  legislation  that  would  change  our  present  system  of 
product  transportation  to  the  same  system  as  is  now  in 
operation  by  the  United  States  post  oflSce  in  the  forwarding 
of  mail  matter,  and  in  charge  of  that  department. 

To  illustrate,  a  fruit-grower  at  San  Rafael  wishes  to  send 
five  hundred  pounds  of  peaches  to  San  Francisco.  He 
obtains  a  stamp  of  his  post  office  (which  may  be  three  times 
the  size  of  a  postal  card,  and  on  pasteboard) ;  he  attaches 
same  to  one  of  his  crates,  and  delivers  same  to  the  postal 
clerk  at  the  railroad  company's  depot.  Say  the  value  of  the 
stamp  is  one  dollar.  Another  grower  in  Chico  likewise 
wishes  to  send  a  like  quantity  of  peaches  to  the  same  desti- 
nation, and  he  too  obtains  a  one-dollar  stamp  and  the  fruit 
is  forwarded  the  same  way.  A  third  grower  in  Sacramento 
county  wishes  to  forward  a  like  quantity  to  New  York,  and 
he  likewise  obtains  a  one-dollar  stamp  and  the  fruit  goes 
out  to  New  York. 

In  short,  land  products,  in  their  natural  state,  are  to  be 
forwarded  in  any  quantity  to  any  destination  just  the  same 
as  other  mail  matter  and  subject  to  similar  conditions. 

Replying  to  an  objector  he  emphasizes  his  point  by  stat- 
ing: 

"Last  Thursday  I  received  a  case  of  books  from  the 
publisher  in  New  York  weighing  165  lbs.  for  $1.65;  these 
books  came  in  six  days,  and  were  brought  here  by  the  U.  S. 
Government  through  its  post  office  department.  .  .  .  We 
all  know  in  advance  that  the  Government  pays  the  railroad 
from  three  to  six  cents  per  pound  for  carrying  the  books, 
yet  it  only  charges  the  publisher  one  cent  per  pound.  Who 
pays  the  difference.'*  Who  but  the  people.  Every  tax- 
payer, producer  or  consumer,  pays  to  make  up  the  loss.  .  .  . 
In  these  book  shipments  the  publishers,  the  writers,  and  the 
merchants  are  benefited,  and  were  farm  products  forwarded 
that  way  the  farmers  would  be  benefited.'* 


TRANSPORTATION  AND   TARIFF  115 

1893  was  a  year  of  wide-spread  agricultural  distress ;  the 
grain-growing  areas  of  the  world  had  been  rapidly  extending ; 
India,  Argentina,  and  new  Russian  territories  were  coming 
into  competition  with  the  wheat  growers  of  Europe  and 
North  America;  with  increased  production  and  greater 
shipping  facilities  than  ever  before  the  price  of  the 
staples  had  been  continuously  falling.  In  Europe  the 
agrarians  were  attributing  their  troubles  to  America,  and 
several  of  the  importing  countries  were  protecting  themselves 
by  heavy  customs  duties,  which  raised  the  price  within  their 
own  frontiers  but  could  not  affect  the  basic  world  price 
ruling  for  the  producer  in  the  exporting  countries.  The  vast 
distances  which  the  staples  raised  in  the  West  and  Middle 
West  had  to  traverse  before  reaching  the  export  markets 
made  profitable  farming  in  those  sections  of  the  country 
almost  impossible  at  the  prevailing  low  rates,  and  the  dis- 
content which  all  this  engendered  expressed  itself  in  great 
political  unrest  and  in  the  rise  of  a  whole  series  of  agita- 
tions, such  as  those  of  the  Populists,  the  Free  Silverites,  the 
Single  Taxers,  and  others.  The  Grange  was  then  a  powerful 
organization,  and  took  up  many  of  these  cries. 

Lubin's  statement  of  the  case  pointed  to  the  fundamental 
fact  that  in  the  United  States,  where  the  staples  were  ex- 
ports, the  protective  tariff  necessarily  discriminated  against 
the  farmers,  and  that  protection  should  be  afforded  them  by 
lifting  off  their  shoulders  the  burden  of  distance  competi- 
tion :  "If  the  farmer  can  have  his  products  forwarded  at  an 
even  rate  for  100  miles  or  3000  miles  the  difference  that  he 
will  save  will  be  his  protection."  The  difference  between 
Government  receipts  from  the  sale  of  the  proposed  "stamps", 
and  its  expenditures  in  payments  to  the  railway  companies 
for  carrying  the  farm  products,  would,  of  course,  have  to  be 
evened  up  out  of  taxation,  but  Lubin  claimed  that  the  ad- 
vantages accruing  to  the  manufacturer,  the  merchant,  and 
the  labor  man  from  the  increase  in  national  prosperity  which 
this  system  would  bring  about  would  be  such  that  they 
would  willingly  pay  this  tax. 


116  DAVID  LUBIN 

The  article  in  the  Record  Union  aroused  considerable  com- 
ment. Some  approved,  more  condemned  and  derided. 
Caricatures  were  published  of  Lubin  posting  cabbages  and 
pigs.  One  of  the  State  Assemblymen,  arguing  the  point, 
had  asked,  "Why,  d'  you  mean  to  say  you  'd  send  a  cabbage 
through  the  mails?" 

"  Certainly,"  replied  Lubin. 

"Would  you  send  a  pig?" 

"Why,  yes;  I  would  send  anything;  I  would  send  you,** 
came  the  reply. 

His  friend.  Grove  L.  Johnson,  who  with  a  twinkle  in  his 
eye  told  me  this  anecdote,  was  standing  by  when  this  con- 
versation occurred  and  stepped  forward,  almost  expecting  a 
fight ;  "  but  no  insult  had  been  meant ;  Lubin  had  spoken 
in  all  sincerity,  only  giving  one  more  example  of  mailable 
produce," 

Anyhow,  the  proposal  was  novel  enough  and  notable 
enough  to  be  widely  noticed  by  the  press  of  the  country. 

Lubin  reprinted  article  and  comments  with  his  replies 
thereto  as  a  pamphlet  of  which  he  had  fifty-five  thousand 
copies  printed  and  scattered  broadcast  among  all  kinds  and 
conditions  of  readers,  from  labor  men  to  professors,  from 
editors  to  business  men,  from  farmers  to  financiers ;  asking 
all  and  sundry  to  send  in  their  views  for  publication  and  dis- 
cussion. 

This  resulted  a  few  months  later  in  the  issue  of  a  second 
pamphlet  in  which  his  suggestions  had  definitely  crystallized 
into  three  proposals. 

The  first  was  that  specified  farm  products,  in  limited 
weight  and  bulk,  should  be  mailable  through  the  U.  S. 
post  office  department  at  a  uniform  rate  of  one  cent  per 
pound  for  any  distance  within  the  Union.  Thus  Lubin  was 
the  first  to  carry  on  an  active  propaganda  for  a  parcel-post 
system  in  the  United  States. 

The  second  proposal  was  that  the  disabilities  arising  from 
long-distance  competition  be  overcome  by  providing  for  the 
transportation  of  farm  products  in  their  natural    state, 


TRANSPORTATION  AND  TARIFF  117 

raised  within  the  United  States,  at  a  reduced  rate,  lowering 
the  rate  in  inverse  ratio  to  the  distance  from  the  market 
centers. 

In  this  connection  we  may  note  that  action  along  lines 
similar  to  those  advocated  by  David  Lubin  was  taken  in 
1906,  as  a  measure  of  justice  to  the  agricultural  South,  by 
the  Italian  Government  when  it  took  over  the  railways. 
While  distances  in  Italy  are  not  comparable  to  those  in  the 
United  States,  nevertheless  the  geographical  formation  of 
the  peninsula  entails  a  very  long  haul  from  the  Southern 
provinces  and  Sicily,  which  are  mainly  agricultural,  to  their 
markets  in  Central  Europe,  and  to  overcome  the  geograph- 
ical disadvantage  at  which  they  were  thus  placed  as  com- 
pared to  the  industrial  North,  a  system  of  differential  tariffs 
was  introduced  by  which  the  greater  the  distance  traversed, 
the  lower  the  rate. 

Many  of  the  issues  which  Lubin  raised  in  this  campaign 
are  as  alive  to-day  as  they  were  when  he  was  agitating  them 
in  the  early  nineties.  Ask  the  citrus  fruit  growers  of  Cali- 
fornia, the  grain  growers  of  the  North  and  Middle  West, 
and  they  will  have  much  to  say  on  the  subject  of  long-dis- 
tance competition  and  the  effect  of  transportation  rates  on 
agricultural  prosperity.  Further,  the  claim  he  made  that  a 
prosperous  farming  community  is  essential  to  the  prosperity 
of  industry  and  labor  is  also  borne  out  in  a  striking  manner 
by  recent  events,  when,  to  quote  a  statement  made  in  1921 
by  Secretary  Hoover,  "the  resistance  against  lower  levels 
in  the  services  and  commodities  that  the  farmer  must  buy 
in  the  face  of  his  very  much  lower  returns  is  already  digging 
the  grave  of  unemployment  for  the  other  industries." 

I  lay  it  down  as  an  axiom  [Lubin  wrote]  that  the  interests 
of  our  nation  can  best  be  served  ...  by  absolute  and  un- 
hampered free  trade  among  the  several  States  of  the  Union. 
Now,  as  long  as  our  territorial  extent  is  almost  as  great  as 
the  continent  of  Europe,  it  is  manifestly  impossible  to  main- 
tain free  trade  between  the  several  States  and  sections  as 
long  as  the  factor  of  distance  creates  an  uneven  charge  for 


118  DAVID  LUBIN 

transportation.  This  unevenness  is  felt  in  a  much  greater 
degree  in  agricultural  products  transported  in  their  natural 
state,  than  in  the  average  for  manufactured  goods,  A  suit 
of  clothes  weighing  ten  pounds  and  costing  $15  may  be  trans- 
ported from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  at  about  one  per  cent. 
The  charge  for  carrying  ten  pounds  of  peaches  from  San 
Francisco  to  New  York  will  be  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
per  cent.  The  reason  is  clear.  The  ten  pounds  of  suit  is  so 
much  more  expensive  than  the  ten  pounds  of  peaches.  The 
fact  is,  of  course,  well  known,  and  being  so  general  is  deemed 
a  fixed  law  in  the  social  arrangement.  The  question  remains, 
is  it  a  just  law  ?  We  may  unhesitatingly  say  that  it  is  not 
so  much  a  law  as  a  custom.  For  law  is  no  law  unless  it 
be  grounded  in  justice,  and  this  custom  is  not  grounded 
in  justice  but  in  injustice,  and  injustice  is  never  a  factor 
for  betterment. 

And  here  again  we  touch  a  question  still  unsolved,  on 
which  his  views  have  recently  been  confirmed  in  the  following 
words  by  Secretary  Hoover  :  "  Horizontal  rate  increases  have 
thrown  the  relativity  of  rate  scales  out  of  gear,  both  as  to 
the  value  of  commodities  and  zones  of  distribution.  The 
increase  of  rate  may  amount  to  5  per  cent  on  the  shipper's 
value  of  some  commodities  and  80  per  cent  on  others.  We 
have  many  complaints  of  the  hardship  worked  by  the  upset 
in  ratio ;  complaints  that  it  is  readjusting  the  commercial  and 
industrial  map  of  the  United  States;  complaints  that  in 
some  industries  the  charge  can  be  passed  on  to  the  consumer 
while  on  others,  such  as  agriculture,  it  falls  largely  upon  the 
producer ;  and  complaints  that  it  is  stifling  production." 

And  so  we  get  back  in  1921  to  the  basic  fact  pointed  out 
by  Lubin  in  1894 ;  that  such  a  system  works  injustice,  and 
that  "injustice  is  never  a  factor  for  betterment." 

While  Populists  and  Free  Silverites  on  the  one  hand, 
labor  unions,  tariff  leaguers,  and  the  great  industrial  in- 
terests on  the  other,  formulated  their  programs  and  pressed 
their  policies  solely  in  view  of  "advantage",  all  guided  by 
the  purely  materialistic  conception  of  the  Marxist  "class 
war",  however  much  some  of  them  may  have  deprecated 


TRANSPORTATION  AND  TARIFF  119 

that  expression  in  the  mouths  of  labor  agitators,  Lubin's 
motive  in  this  campaign  was  then  as  always  the  single- 
minded  desire  to  see  the  "just  weight  and  the  just  measure" 
prevail.  Principle,  not  expediency,  was  his  lodestar;  and 
though  this  often  laid  him  open  to  the  derision  of  the  "prac- 
tical" man,  it  saved  him  from  pinning  his  faith  to  any  of 
the  cheap  nostrums  of  the  day.  He  took  great  pains  to 
demonstrate  that  in  seeking  relief  for  the  farmer  the  pur- 
pose was  to  benefit  not  one  but  all  classes  in  the  community. 
He  sought  not  privilege  but  justice,  and  justice  can  never 
be  other  than  even-handed. 

Going  into  the  matter  from  the  standpoint  of  city  labor, 
he  showed  by  close  reasoning  along  Socratic  lines,  and  in 
dialogue  form,  that  "increase  of  acreage  of  a  field  product 
at  a  remote  distance  from  the  market,  without  a  correspond- 
ing decrease  of  production  of  a  like  product  in  other  sections, 
demands  either  a  constant  decrease  of  wages  or  a  gradual 
decrease  in  the  cost  of  transportation"  ;  that  unless  this  de- 
crease in  the  cost  of  transportation  is  provided  for  "the 
tariff  and  the  prevention  of  immigration  will  not  prevent  a 
steady  decline  in  the  wage  rate."  And  here  again  we  have 
a  question  which,  after  an  interval  of  thirty  years,  is  as  live 
an  issue  to-day  as  when  Lubin  wrote ;  in  fact,  the  Emer- 
gency Tariff,  the  Immigration  laws,  and  the  great  railway 
rate  and  transportation  crisis  lend  an  interest  of  absolute 
actuality  to  the  problems  which  he  then  brought  up  for 
discussion  and  action. 

His  third  proposal  was  a  bold  effort  to  secure  for  agri- 
culture the  effective  protection  which  industries  enjoyed 
under  the  tariff. 

While  his  contentions  in  the  matter  of  "long-distance 
competition"  started  necessarily  from  a  sectional  viewpoint, 
the  viewpoint  in  his  contention  for  equality  in  protection 
was  national  and  in  its  active  advocacy  he  was  to  be  educated 
up  to  the  need  for  a  still  broader  outlook ;  the  nation  was 
to  merge  into  the  world,  nationalism  into  internationalism. 
Nor  could  it  be  otherwise  when  abstract  justice  was  the 


120  DAVID  LUBIN 

bull's-eye  aimed  at,  for  justice  knows  nothing  of  frontiers, 
and  in  the  long  run  justice  and  expediency  are  found  to 
converge,  however  wide  apart  they  may  appear  to  be  at 
the  start. 

But  in  1894  Lubin's  horizon  was  limited  to  the  need  for 
economic  equity  as  between  several  interests  in  his  own 
country,  and  his  proposal,  briefly  stated,  was  to  offset  the 
protection  afforded  to  manufacturers  and  industrial  laborers 
by  a  tariff  on  imports  by  granting  the  producers  of  the 
staples  a  bounty  on  exports  in  the  form  of  a  government 
subsidy  to  reduce  the  cost  of  ocean  carriage  from  the  shipping 
points  to  the  foreign  import  markets.  By  this  means,  Lubin 
argued,  some  of  the  wealth  accruing  to  the  industrial  in- 
terests through  protection  would  be  returned  and  spent  in 
behalf  of  the  agricultural  interests.  The  actual  subsidy,  how- 
ever, would  be  but  the  smallest  part  of  the  benefit  which 
would  accrue  to  the  producers  of  the  staples,  for  by  reducing 
the  cost  of  carriage  to  the  world's  importing  center,  Liverpool, 
the  price  which  the  producer  would  receive  for  every  bushel 
raised  would  be  increased  to  the  extent  of  said  subsidy ; 
not  only  the  price  of  the  bushels  sold  for  export,  but  also  the 
price  of  the  remainder,  and  much  larger  amount,  sold  for 
consumption  on  the  home  market;  for  the  export  and 
home  price  on  the  wheat  pits  are  one  and  the  same. 
This  effective  protection  would,  he  claimed,  enable  the 
farmer  to  hold  his  own  against  the  competition  arising 
from  the  *'use  of  approved  modern  appliances  for  agri- 
cultural labor  in  the  hands  of  countless  hordes  of  docile, 
cheap  labor  in  many  important  sections  of  the  world." 

It  required  several  years  yet  before  Lubin  saw  that  equity 
in  price  formation  for  the  American  farmer  required  as  a 
preessential  equity  in  the  price  formation  for  farmers  the 
world  over;  that,  to  use  his  own  words,  the  advantage  he 
strove  to  secure  for  one  must  be  transmuted  into  a  benefit  for 
all  before  it  could  be  effective. 

The  ardor,  tenacity,  and  ability  which  Lubin  displayed 
in  organizing  and  pushing  this  campaign  were  extraordinary. 


TRANSPORTATION  AND  TARIFF  121 

Steadily  refusing,  as  he  did  throughout  his  life,  to  subsidize 
papers  or  propagandists  to  advocate  his  views  —  for  he 
rightly  held  that  while  open  advertisement  is  legitimate, 
clandestinely  paid  propaganda  is  not  —  availing  himself 
of  no  political  "pull",  for  this  too  he  held  to  be  unclean; 
backed  by  no  "interests",  for  he  resolutely  refused  to  favor 
such,  except  in  so  far  as  their  claims  conformed  strictly 
to  those  of  justice ;  working  in  a  small  community  and  with 
an  obscure  city  as  his  center,  he  yet  succeeded  in  a  very 
brief  time  in  getting  his  views  prominently  before  the  people 
not  of  California  but  of  the  United  States.  Dipping  freely 
into  his  own  pocket,  devoting  his  time  and  means  and  abil- 
ities to  this  service  without  stint  or  reward,  he  set  to  work. 
His  first  pamphlet,  sent  out  in  an  edition  of  55,000  copies, 
was  followed  by  a  second  of  like  number  and  these  by  others. 
Using  the  experience  acquired  in  publishing  business  cata- 
logues, he  gave  these  the  widest  possible  distribution, 
sending  them  to  the  press,  to  the  universities,  to  the  great 
business  firms,  to  statesmen  and  politicians,  to  granges  and 
farmers'  associations,  to  labor  unions  and  individuals,  con- 
spicuous and  obscure,  wherever  he  thought  the  seed  could 
be  sown  with  advantage.  In  a  short  time  he  had  "pro- 
mulgation" committees  at  work  in  various  sections,  de- 
bates for  and  against  going  on  in  the  farmers'  meetings 
North,  West,  South  and  East,  and  the  "novel  proposition'* 
had  become  a  live  issue  calling  for  editorial  comment  in  the 
press  of  the  country. 

Lubin  was  indefatigable.  The  campaign  which  he  started 
in  September,  1893,  developed  into  an  absorbing  labor  of 
years,  in  which  he  sacrificed  business  and  family  interests 
to  his  zeal  for  the  public  good.  Gradually  the  broader  issue, 
that  which  aimed  at  equalizing  the  supposed  benefits  of 
protection  as  between  the  agricultural  and  the  industrial 
interests,  engrossed  him  to  the  exclusion  of  the  minor  matter 
of  differential  railway  rates. 

He  traveled  from  point  to  point  (generally  taking  with 
him  one  or  other  of  his  children)  giving  himself  up,  heart 


122  DAVID  LUBIN 

and  soul,  to  this  work,  and  speaking  and  debating  with  all 
manner  of  men  and  women.  None  were  too  humble  and 
none  too  exalted  for  Lubin  to  tackle.  In  June,  1894,  he 
achieved  a  first  success  when  the  proposal  was  adopted  by 
the  Republican  State  Convention  of  California  as  a  plank 
in  its  platform.  He  continued  the  campaign  of  education 
among  Granges  and  Farmers*  Alliances,  and  the  proposal 
was  next  indorsed  by  the  State  Grange  of  California. 

This  agitation  for  equalizing  protection  as  between  town 
and  country,  while  it  conciliated  the  traditional  repub- 
licanism of  the  Western  States,  appealed  to  the  farmers, 
discontented  with  a  system  of  which  they  paid  the  cost  with- 
out receiving  the  benefits,  and  before  Lubin  was  through 
he  had  the  enthusiastic  support  of  the  Granges  of  California, 
Oregon,  Washington,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Virginia  and  Penn- 
sylvania. And  in  those  days  the  Grang'es  were  a  political 
force  of  no  mean  importance. 

The  high  priests  of  protection  in  the  East  now  began  to 
awaken  to  the  incipient  dangers  of  such  a  movement.  The 
treasurer  of  the  American  Protective  Tariff  League  ap- 
proached Lubin  with  a  request  to  contribute  to  the  funds  of 
the  League  and  to  indorse  its  policy.  He  replied  by  a 
challenge  to  debate  the  agricultural  phase  of  the  question : 

"As  we  seem  to  differ  radically  in  our  opinions,  and  as  I 
am  now  under  the  impression  that  if  your  theory  of  protection 
is  just,  mine  is  unjust,  and  as  I  would  like  to  have  this  ques- 
tion decided  by  competent  authority  and  abide  by  their 
decision  ...  I  will  contribute  to  the  funds  of  your  League 
the  sum  of  $1,000  subject  to  the  order  of  a  committee 
nominated  for  the  purpose  of  deciding  this  question." 

Lubin  goes  on  to  name  as  his  members  of  the  committee 
Professor  Ely  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  John  Wana- 
maker  of  Philadelphia,  the  Master  of  the  California  State 
Grange,  Samuel  Gompers,  and  Senator  Chandler  of  New 
Hampshire.  These  names  show  that  he  had  no  hesitation 
in  carrying  his  campaign  into  the  strongholds  of  protec- 
tionism. 


TRANSPORTATION  AND  TARIFF  123 

The  challenge  was  acknowledged,  but  it  is  significant  that 
it  was  never  taken  up,  and  in  due  time  the  certified  check 
was  returned  to  Lubin. 

The  campaign  was  not  without  its  humors.  For  instance, 
when  the  matter  was  taken  up  for  action  in  the  National 
Grange,  the  political  hacks  of  the  Republican  party  got  to 
work  and  succeeded  by  a  majority  of  one  in  getting  that 
body  to  refuse  to  sponsor  the  measure.  The  reporter  for 
the  committee  on  agriculture  on  that  occasion  was  a  certain 
Aaron  Jones  of  Indiana.  Now,  Mrs.  Jones,  who  under 
Grange  regulations  had  a  vote  equally  with  her  husband, 
and  who  was  evidently  less  of  a  politician  than  he  was,  con- 
vinced by  the  logic  of  Brother  Lubin's  arguments,  announced 
her  intention  of  voting  for  his  motion.  But  on  the  morning 
of  the  day  when  the  issue  was  to  be  decided,  she  was  packed 
off  home  by  her  spouse. 

"I  don't  know  what's  got  into  him,"  the  good  woman 
said,  as  she  bade  Lubin  and  other  acquaintances  good-by, 
"but  he 's  just  hustling  me  off,  and  I  did  so  want  to  remain 
for  the  exercises." 

On  another  occasion  Lubin  had  traveled  many  hundreds 
of  miles  to  place  his  case  before  a  State  Grange  —  Ohio,  if 
my  memory  is  not  at  fault.  Hour  after  hour  went  by  and 
the  Worthy  Master  never  looked  his  way.  A  speaker 
would  sit  down  and  Lubin  would  think  his  turn  had  come, 
when  Sister  Smith  would  be  called  on  for  a  song,  or  Brother 
Brown  invited  to  relate  some  personal  experience. 

At  last  a  big,  shaggy  farmer,  who  had  been  sitting  in  the 
background  observing  these  maneuvers,  asked  for  the 
floor.  It  was  granted  and  he  rose,  opened  a  ponderous  tome, 
and  began  slowly  and  deliberately  to  read  out:  "Nails: 
brass  tacks,  5%  ad  valorem;  tin  tacks,  5%  ad  valorem; 
half -inch  nails,  5%  ad  valor  em^\  and  so  forth. 

This  went  on  for  a  few  minutes  to  the  amazement  of  the 
assembled  company,  when  at  last  the  Chair  interrupted, 
asking  the  Brother  kindly  to  explain  why  he  was  reading 
out  the  tariff,  and  how  long  he  would  hold  the  floor. 


124  DAVID  LUBIN 

"Well,  it's  like  this,"  replied  the  worthy  Granger. 
"Brother  Lubin  has  come  here,  and  I  know  he  has  traveled 
a  long  way,  and  he  has  something  to  say  which  many  of  us 
want  to  hear,  but  I  have  noticed  that  the  Worthy  Master 
never  looks  his  way,  and  time  is  going  by,  and  Brother 
Lubin  will  have  to  leave  without  a  hearing.  Now,  I  don't 
think  that' s  fair,  and  so  now  I  've  got  the  floor,  and  I  'm  going 
to  hold  it ;  and  as  I  don't  know  how  to  make  a  speech,  I  've 
got  hold  of  this  'ere  book,  and  I'm  just  a-going  to  read  it, 
and  under  our  rules  you  can't  take  the  floor  away  from  me 
until  I  'm  through,  and  I  '11  only  stop  to  make  way  for  Brother 
Lubin,  for  I  '11  see  a  fair  deal,  or  know  the  reason  why." 

Lubin  got  the  floor ! 

Throughout  1894-1895  and  the  early  part  of  1896  we 
find  Lubin  here,  there,  and  everywhere,  educating  and  prop- 
agandizing; spending  freely  the  wealth  he  had  acquired 
as  one  of  the  means  to  fit  him  for  Service.  Seeking  justice 
for  all,  he  confined  his  efforts  to  no  class,  and  was  as  ready 
to  address  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  or  the  Tariff 
League  as  the  Grange.  In  Sam  Gompers  he  had  a  sym- 
pathetic listener;  the  labor  unions  were  strong  for  protec- 
tion, but  they  were  not  unwilling  to  see  it  extended  also  to 
the  farmers;  yet  when  Lubin  addressed  their  annual  con- 
vention at  Denver  he  found  that  here  again  politics  ran  the 
show,  and  his  motion  was  tabled,  not  because  it  failed  to 
carry  conviction,  but  because,  as  the  "boys"  told  him  be- 
hind the  scenes,  they  were  not  particularly  anxious  for 
measures  which  would  make  for  economic  peace. 

In  October,  1894,  Lubin  attended  the  Trans-Mississippi 
Commercial  Congress  at  St.  Louis,  where  it  took  Mr.  Bryan's 
silver-tongued  eloquence  to  get  action  on  the  motion  for 
equal  protection  postponed  until  the  next  conference  on  the 
plea  that  it  was  too  novel  to  be  acted  on  without  further 
study.  From  St.  Louis  he  went  to  New  York  to  discuss  the 
whole  question  with  leading  business  men  and  journalists, 
and  thence  to  Pennsylvania  to  bring  up  the  proposal  before 


TRANSPORTATION  AND  TARIFF  125 

that  State  Grange  and  secure  its  indorsement  and  that  of 
the  Virginia  State  Grange ;  and  thence  to  Washington  to  a 
"hearing"  before  the  House  Committee  on  Agriculture. 

With  imtiring  energy  Lubin  left  no  stone  unturned.  He 
submitted  his  premise  for  comment  and  refutation  to  all 
and  sundry ;  among  others  to  the  President  of  the  Chicago 
Board  of  Trade,  who  fully  confirmed  the  soundness  of  his 
claim  that  the  price  of  farm  staples  in  the  United  States  is 
the  free  trade  world  price  minus  the  cost  of  carriage  from  the 
producing  centers  to  the  world  market  center.  This  claim 
the  Home  Market  Club  of  Boston  boldly  undertook  to  re- 
fute, in  a  debate  lasting  two  days  which  took  place  at  Wash- 
ington. The  floundering  efforts  made  on  this  occasion  by 
the  self-constituted  supporters  of  the  status  quo  to  prove 
that  the  "foreigner"  and  not  the  consumer  pays  for  protec- 
tion, and  that  the  farmer  is  all  right  because  his  staples  are 
on  the  tariff  book,  make  almost  amusing  reading,  especially 
when  in  the  course  of  the  debate  Grove  L.  Johnson,  then 
M.  C.  for  California,  tried  to  tie  them  down  to  the  point. 

"Lubin  mopped  the  floor  up  with  them,"  the  shrewd  old 
lawyer  said  to  me  not  long  ago,  growing  reminiscent  over 
the  old  days. 

Nor  were  the  Universities  neglected  by  Lubin  in  urging 
this  cause.  He  paid  flying  visits  to  Madison  and  Ann  Arbor, 
discussed  the  matter  with  the  professors  of  political  economy 
of  the  Universities  of  Wisconsin  and  Michigan,  and  left 
with  them  substantial  sums  for  prize  essays  to  be  written  by 
their  students  on  "Protection  and  the  Farmer." 

Naturally  the  Democratic  and  Free  Trade  press  had  not 
been  slow  to  look  into  this  matter  and  to  point  out  that 
"equalized  protection"  was  the  reductio  ad  absurdum  of 
protection;  Lubin  had  given  them  points.  Indeed,  by  now 
he  had  become  a  veritable  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  orthodox 
Republican  protectionist.  Contemptuous  silence  had  given 
way  to  derisive  comment  and  virulent  attack,  but  it  looked 
as  if  the  "cat  were  out  of  the  bag"  as  far  as  the  farmers  were 
concerned,  and  this  was  matter  for  anxiety. 


126  DAVID  LUBIN 

On  one  of  his  visits  to  New  York  Lubin  received  an  in- 
vitation to  call  at  the  office  of  a  leading  paper  whose  editor 
was  one  of  the  shining  lights  in  the  inner  circles  of  the  pro- 
tectionist elite.     He  went. 

"Now,  Mr.  Lubin,  we  know  your  standing  as  a  merchant; 
we  know  your  services  to  the  party;  we  know  you  are  a 
stanch  Republican,  but  we  want  to  hear  from  you  all  about 
this  agitation  you  are  starting  with  the  farmers.  What 
are  you  doing  it  for  ?  '* 

"What  am  I  doing  it  for?"  and  Lubin,  nothing  loath  to 
talk  on  his  favorite  subject,  innocently  started  to  explain 
that  a  tariff  on  imports  could  not  protect  the  staples  of 
agriculture  which  were  exports,  etc.,  etc. 

"Oh,  I  know  all  about  that,"  interrupted  the  other  im- 
patiently. "What  I  want  to  know  is  what  you  are  doing  it 
for." 

"Doing  it  for?  Why,  that's  what  I'm  doing  it  for,  of 
course ;  because  I  believe  it 's  right." 

"Just  so,  just  so;  but  of  course  you  must  have  a  motive. 
Well,  remember,  Mr.  Lubin,  there  are  always  positions  open 
to  good  Republicans,  to  men  of  your  ability  and  standing. 
Perhaps  you  would  like  to  travel  ?  A  consulate  in  some  in- 
teresting place,  eh  ?  " 

Lubin  left  that  office  somewhat  enlightened,  but  he 
always  believed  that  he  had  made  a  lifelong  and  powerful 
enemy. 

By  the  spring  of  1896,  when  both  political  parties  were 
preparing  for  the  Presidential  election,  "Lubinism"  had 
become  a  recognized  issue.  The  farmers  in  many  sections 
were  pinning  their  faith  to  it;  labor  was  lending  a  sym- 
pathetic ear;  the  press  was  devoting  considerable  space 
to  the  proposal,  in  editorial  columns  from  one  end  of  the 
country  to  the  other. 

In  April  of  that  year,  Lubin,  who  as  a  prominent  Repub- 
lican had  become  treasurer  of  the  first  McKinley  Club  in 
California,  addressed  Mark  Hanna  to  know  his  stand  in  the 
matter.     He  received  an  evasive  answer,  accompanied  by  a 


TRANSPORTATION  AND  TARIFF  127 

request  for  generous  support.  He  determined  to  make 
"equal  protection"  a  prominent  feature  of  the  presidential 
campaign  or  know  the  reason  why. 

With  this  end  in  view  he  wrote  the  following  letter  to 
Mr.  Hanna : 

Dear  Sir :  Your  favor  of  the  7th  inst.  received,  saying 
that  as  this  matter  does  not  come  within  your  jurisdiction 
"I  leave  the  question  between  the  Governor  (McKinley) 
and  yourself." 

Pardon  me  for  observing  a  few  seeming  errors  in  your 
statement,  to  which  I  draw  your  attention. 

As  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  desiring  its  welfare, 
this  question  comes  within  your  jurisdiction.  As  a  pro- 
tectionist desiring  the  protection  of  American  industries 
against  the  competition  of  the  pauper  labor  of  the  world, 
this  question  comes  within  your  jurisdiction.  And,  lastly, 
as  a  warm  friend  of  Governor  McKinley,  seeking  to  promote 
his  nomination  and  election  to  the  exalted  position  of  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  this  question  comes  within  your 
jurisdiction. 

You  have  surely  observed,  as  I  and  millions  of  others  have, 
that  as  long  as  we  export  a  portion  of  agricultural  staples, 
the  export  price  must  not  alone  be  accepted  for  the  quantity 
of  agricultural  staples  sold  for  export,  but  that  the  export 
price,  once  accepted,  becomes  the  home  price  for  the  entire 
home  production. 

What,  then,  is  this  export  price?  Is  it  not  the  world's 
free  trade  price  ?  Again,  you  have  surely  observed  that  the 
introduction  and  employment  of  agricultural  machinery  in 
the  cheapest  land  and  labor  countries  in  the  world,  lessened 
cost  of  transportation,  and  subsidized  highways  and  methods 
of  carriage  in  those  countries,  have  had  the  tendency  of 
so  increasing  the  world's  production  as  to  lower  the  price  of 
agricultural  staples  to  about  half  the  former  rate.  .  .  . 

You  must  surely  know  that  the  primary  purchasing  power 
of  this  Nation  is  in  agriculture,  and  that  if  the  volume  of 
the  primary  purchasing  power  is  diminished,  it  diminishes 
the  demand  for  labor  by  curtailing  the  demand  for  manu- 
factures. 


128  DAVID   LUBIN 

You  also  know  that  a  lessened  demand  for  labor  must 
reduce  the  rate  of  wages  —  of  what  use,  then,  is  protection 
for  manufactures  ? 

Would  it  not  be  economically  wrong  to  exclude  cheaper 
manufactures  so  long  as  agriculture  cannot  afford  to  pay  the 
higher  prices  which  a  tariff  on  imports  makes  possible  ? 

If  it  would  be  an  economic  wrong  to  do  this,  of  what 
economic  value  can  such  a  candidate  as  Governor  McKinley 
be,  unless  he  stand  squarely  in  favor  of  actual  protection 
for  agriculture  by  a  bounty  on  exports,  so  long  as  he  favors 
protection  for  manufactures  by  a  tariff  on  imports  ? 

Some  protectionists,  however,  assert  that  a  tariff  on  im- 
ports can  in  some  way,  directly  or  indirectly,  protect  the 
staples  of  agriculture.  If  this  is  so,  the  promoters  of  the 
proposition  for  the  protection  of  agricultural  staples  by  a 
bounty  on  exports  do  not  know  it.  They  have  asked  to  be 
informed  on  this  subject  by  so  high  a  protection  authority 
as  the  American  Protective  Tariff  League  of  New  York, 
offering  to  subscribe  one  thousand  dollars  to  their  funds  if 
they  could  do  this.  The  League,  while  promising  to  bring 
this  offer  before  the  Executive  Committee  and  to  notify  ac- 
tion, failed  to  give  any  public  notice  of  its  action.  .  .  . 

That  there  may  be  no  mistake,  and  no  room  for  mistake 
on  this  most  important  question,  I  will  submit  the  following 
for  your  acceptance. 

I  shall,  on  receipt  of  your  telegram  accepting  same,  de- 
posit in  the  Bank  of  D.  O.  Mills  &  Company,  the  sum  of 
ten  thousand  dollars  subject  to  the  terms  and  conditions 
offered  to  the  American  Protective  Tariff  League  of  New 
York  (see  paper  inclosed),  which  sum,  should  the  matter 
be  decided  against  this  proposition,  shall  be  placed  to  the 
credit  of  the  McKinley  campaign  fund.  Should  the  de- 
cision be  against  McKinley,  then  in  that  event  he 
(McKinley)  is  to  advocate  this  proposition.  .  .  . 

I  deem  it  necessary  to  add  that  this  offer  is  not  made  with 
a  view  to  injury  of  any  one,  nor  is  it  such  a  great  sacrifice 
on  my  part  as  it  may  seem  to  be.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
in  the  line  of  prudence  and  economy. 

I  believe  that  protection,  when  limited  to  a  tariff  on  im- 
ports,   becomes,    under   present   conditions,    an  enormous 


TRANSPORTATION  AND  TARIFF  129 

burden  and  a  tyrannically  unjust  tax  on  agriculture ;  a  burden 
which  should  be  equalized  or  abolished;  a  burden  which, 
unless  promptly  rectified,  must  tend  to  the  ultimate  elim- 
ination from  land  ownership  of  the  independent  farmers  of 
this  nation,  and  their  replacement  by  peasants  and  tenants ; 
that,  as  an  indirect  consequence  of  this,  the  existence  of 
this  Republic,  as  such,  would  be  greatly  endangered.  Be- 
lieving so,  I  have  for  the  past  several  years  expended  each 
year  about  the  sum  named,  I  might  continue  to  expend  such 
sums  for  years  to  come,  and  perhaps  in  the  end  learn  that 
Governor  McKinley's  method  of  protection  is  right,  after 
all. 

Should  I  find  this  to  be  the  case  at  this  time,  I  would 
clearly  save  money  by  ceasing  this  work. 

On  the  other  hand,  should  this  work  be  in  the  right  direc- 
tion, economically  sound  and  practicable,  there  would  be 
no  better  or  more  practicable  method  to  have  it  adopted  than 
that  indicated. 

That  this  proffer  is  opportune  may  be  seen  from  your 
campaign  pamphlet  for  McKinley,  "A  Nation's  Choice", 
when  you  say  on  page  32,  "Major  McKinley  is  a  man  of 
moderate  means."  Being  a  man  of  moderate  means,  the 
$10,000  would,  no  doubt,  come  in  handy  for  his  campaign. 

Kindly  let  me  hear  from  you  at  an  early  date,  or,  if  you 
prefer,  you  may  telegraph  your  conclusions. 

Yours  very  truly, 

David  Lubin. 

Lubin  corrected  the  proofs  of  this  letter  which  he  meant 
to  make  public,  but  it  never  appeared. 

The  time  had  come  when  he  was  to  pay  the  penalty  of 
imstinted  devotion  to  public  work  by  sacrificing  much  of  his 
personal  happiness.  He  had  been  so  absorbed  in  this  serv- 
ice to  which  he  held  himself  dedicated  that  he  had  inevitably 
neglected  private  interests  and  family  duties.  Moreover, 
the  constant  nervous  strain  and  tension  had  told  on  him, 
making  him  irritable  and  inconsiderate  in  small  things. 
A  prophet,  a  reformer,  is  hardly  likely  to  be  the  amiable, 
attentive  husband  of  conventional  family  life;   yet  under  a 


130  DAVID   LUBIN 

rough  and  somewhat  gruff  exterior  this  prophet  had  a  sin- 
gularly sensitive  nature;  nurtured  deep,  nay,  passionate 
affections.  But  he  doubtless  seemed  "  odd  ",  "  incongruous  " 
—  I  have  already  used  the  word  and  I  repeat  it  —  to  his 
environment.  And  the  blow  came.  His  home  was  broken 
up,  and  he  himself  brought  to  the  verge  of  nervous  collapse. 
The  physician  would  not  answer  for  results  if  his  patient 
did  not  immediately  stop  all  work  and  take  a  complete 
change  of  scene.  Accompanied  by  his  five  children  and  their 
governess,  Lubin  sailed  for  Europe  in  the  spring  of  1896. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE   HORIZON  WIDENS 


"Let  the  novelist  throw  caution  away  and  show  us  men 
and  women  in  the  act  of  leading  desirable  lives,  show  us  how 
much  better  the  creative  is  than  the  possessive  or  acquisitive 
spirit.  Let  him  invent  for  his  bankers,  railroad  men,  mer- 
chants, lawyers,  a  kind  of  success  which  without  bringing 
them  wealth  is  yet  as  credible  and  indisputable  and  joyful 
as  the  success  which  Henry  James  has  bestowed  upon  his 
novelists  who  don't  sell." 

I  had  just  closed  the  previous  chapter  of  this  biography 
when  I  chanced  on  the  above  in  a  literary  criticism  in  the 
New  Republic^  and  the  words  struck  me,  for  was  not  the  life 
I  am  trying  to  describe  lived  on  just  that  creative  plane? 
With  all  its  shortcomings,  failures  and  sorrows  did  it  not 
know  the  "indisputable  and  joyful  success"  reserved  to 
such  ? 

Passionate  and  emotional  by  nature,  Lubin  was  familiar 
with  the  ups  and  downs  of  such  temperaments;  in  his 
haste  and  impatience  he  would  sometimes  be  unjust,  would 
wound,  and  then  deeply  regret;  more  frequently  he  was 
himself  wounded  and  concealed  the  smart,  perhaps  under 
an  assumed  harshness  of  demeanor.  But  the  creative  spirit 
can  never  be  pessimistic,  for  pessimism  is  sterile,  negative. 
In  such  temperaments  personal  sorrow  is  transmuted  into  a 
further  spur  to  action.  Susceptibility  to  the  "emotion  of 
the  ideal",  capacity  for  enthusiasm,  enthusiasm  for  a  cause, 
carry  those  thus  endowed  through  the  vicissitudes  of  life, 
enabling  them  to  dwell,  so  to  speak,  above  and  outside  of 
themselves,  and  to  breathe  a  vivifying  atmosphere  unknown 
to  those  confined  to  the  purely  materialistic  plane. 


132  DAVID  LUBIN 

And  so  it  was  with  David  Lubin.  He  went  abroad 
to  recover  his  health  and  to  rest.  But  throughout  Hfe 
"rest"  was  an  impossibiHty  to  him.  "I  shall  have  time 
enough  to  rest  when  I  go  into  cold  storage,"  he  would  say. 
His  "vacations"  were  always  farces.  Perhaps  two  or  three 
days  of  relaxation,  but  even  in  that  he  would  be  strenuous ; 
and  then,  that  over,  the  only  difference  would  be  that 
instead  of  observing  some  approach  to  business  hours,  he 
would  be  at  it  at  all  hours.  The  hardest  strain  of  all  was 
during  periods  of  apparent  "rest",  for  then  his  active 
mind,  driven  in  upon  itself,  would  very  literally  wrestle 
with  the  problems  which  his  activities  or  his  reading  had 
raised,  and  he  would  come  out  of  the  ordeal  physically 
exhausted,  recovering  his  poise  in  the  recuperative  exer- 
cise of  active  work. 

The  processes  of  his  mind  were,  in  a  certain  sense,  slow. 
He  had  none  of  the  brilliancy  and  rapidity  of  the  Latin 
intellect  which  grasps  an  idea  almost  before  it  is  formulated. 
But  again  he  possessed  in  a  supreme  degree  the  tenacity  and 
capacity  of  taking  pains  in  which  the  Latin  is  often  deficient. 
He  would  stammer  and  stumble,  express  himself  clumsily, 
realize  his  failure,  and  be  at  it  again,  pursuing  an  idea  as  a 
hound  pursues  its  quarry,  until  at  last  he  would  hunt  it  to 
earth.  So  in  his  reading.  He  would  read  slowly,  deliber- 
ately ;  heavily  underscoring  the  pages  with  a  total  disre- 
gard of  all  aesthetic  consideration ;  but  a  book  would  leave 
his  hands  replete  with  his  own  personality,  having  yielded 
up  to  him  the  truth  he  sought  in  it  perhaps,  rather  than 
the  truth  it  contained.  He  would  often  quote  a  remark  of 
Spinoza's  to  the  effect  that  an  original  mind  need  never  be 
ashamed  of  halting  expression  and  hesitating  gait,  for  by 
its  very  failures  it  is  painfully  laying  the  foundations  on 
which  others  may  erect  the  polished  structure. 

So  it  had  been  with  his  campaign  for  equity  in  economic 
relations  as  between  agricultural  and  industrial  interests. 
He  had  stated  his  case  so  often,  debated  it  so  frequently, 
given  it  so  much  hard  and  earnest  thought,  that  he  had 


THE  HORIZON  WTOENS  133 

reduced  it  almost  to  axiomatic  expression ;  and  yet,  so  far, 
the  remedy  he  had  evolved  was  practically  one  of  "robbing 
Peter  to  pay  Paul"  and  then  emptying  Paul's  pockets 
back  into  Peter's.  He  had  argued  protection  down  to  its 
reductio  ad  ahsurdum. 

Lubin  had  come  to  realize  very  clearly  the  deleterious 
influence  exercised  on  the  American  producer  by  unduly 
low  prices  forced  on  the  Argentinian,  or  Indian,  or  Russian 
producers,  but  he  was  still  content  to  refer  to  these  latter 
with  even-handed  contempt  as  "pauper  labor",  and  to 
attribute  the  situation  vaguely  to  "European  despotisms" 
forcing  the  use  of  modem  machinery  on  the  "clay-like,  un- 
resisting human  raw  material"  of  oppressed  and  enslaved 
countries  and  inferior  races.  He  had  to  travel  a  stage 
further  in  his  development  to  see  clearly  the  fundamental 
solidarity  of  interests  which  should  unite  producers  the 
world  over,  and  to  advocate  as  the  remedy  for  the  ills  he 
clearly  discerned  justice  for  all  rather  than  artificial  pro- 
tection for  the  few.  His  travels  in  Europe  in  1896  were  to 
take  him  a  considerable  stage  further  on  this  journey. 

Unable,  in  spite  of  doctor's  orders,  to  keep  his  mind  off  the 
absorbing  topics  on  which  it  was  engaged,  he  began  to  look 
around  to  see  whether  facts  as  he  could  observe  them  in 
England,  in  Russia,  in  Germany,  in  Austria,  Hungary,  Italy, 
and  France  carried  out  the  claims  he  had  made.  In  the 
Old  World  as  in  the  New  the  decline  in  the  price  of  agri- 
cultural staples  was  a  fact  claiming  the  earnest  attention 
of  landowners  and  economists ;  but  in  Europe  it  was  also 
engaging  the  best  thought  of  the  conservative  statesmen. 
They  sought  to  combat  it  by  protective  tariffs  (effective 
in  their  case,  for  the  countries  in  question  were  importers 
of  the  staples)  and  by  legislation  affording  the  farmer  special 
railway  facilities,  cheap  credit,  cooperative  enterprises,  and 
fiscal  privileges.  Yet  all  this  was  proving  of  little  avail. 
What  was  the  cause  at  work  ? 

Lubin  still  saw  it  in  the  spread  of  agricultural  machinery 
to  the  cheap  land  and  labor  countries  of  the  world.    For- 


134  DAVID  LUBIN 

warding  a  batch  of  catalogues  showing  the  growth  of  the 
agricultural  machine  industry  in  Europe  to  Mr.  J.  H.  Brig- 
ham,  then  Master  of  the  National  Grange,  he  writes  in 
October,  1896 : 

The  important  bearing  of  these  catalogues  on  American 
agriculture  will  escape  the  duller  mind,  but  will  arrest  the 
attention  of  thoughtful  American  citizens,  be  they  farmers 
or  of  other  occupations.  The  indications  point  that  in 
the  near  future  almost  all  Europe  will  employ  labor-saving 
agricultural  machinery ;  but  at  this  time  the  greatest  signif- 
icance must  be  attached  to  the  fact  that  it  is  being  con- 
stantly and  rapidly  employed  in  the  cheapest  land  and  labor 
countries.  .  .  .  What  then  must  be  the  potency  of  this 
factor  in  lowering  the  world's  price  of  agricultural  staples  ? 

These  observations,  confirming  his  belief  that  low  and 
still  lower  prices  would  be  the  trend,  convinced  him  more 
than  ever  of  the  need  of  protecting  the  farmer  if  he  was  not 
to  be  degraded  from  the  status  of  independent  landowner  to 
landless  tenant.  In  the  United  States  his  opponents  sneered 
at  his  contention  that  protection  was  denied  to  farmers, 
but  refused  to  take  up  his  challenge  to  debate  the  matter 
and  show  him  where  he  was  wrong.  He  therefore  seized 
the  opportunity  to  get  the  opinion  of  foreign  economists, 
unbiased  by  party  passion.  "  Can  a  tariff  on  imports  protect 
the  staples  of  agriculture  when  they  are  exports.'*"  was  the 
conundrum  he  went  about  propounding;  he  received  in 
reply  an  unequivocal  "no"  from  the  authorities  he  con- 
sulted in  Berlin,  in  Vienna,  in  Budapest,  and  in  Rome. 

In  Berlin  he  found  both  the  academic  and  the  political 
world  keenly  alive  to  the  gravity  of  the  heavy  and  constant 
decline  in  the  price  of  agricultural  staples,  a  decline  which 
the  powerful  Agrarpartei  met  by  protective  tariffs. 

With  the  help  of  the  U.  S.  Embassy,  Lubin  obtained  an 
audience  with  the  Prussian  Minister  of  Agriculture,  Baron 
Hammerstein-Lockstein,  who  fully  sympathized  with  his 
anxiety  regarding  agricultural  depression  and  arranged  for 
a  conference  with  prominent  German  agrarians.    It  was  on 


THE  HORIZON  WIDENS  135 

this  occasion  that  a  suggestion  was  made  by  Professor  Max 
Seering  which  became  the  nucleus  around  which  Lubin's 
thoughts  crystallized  during  the  next  few  years.  "Why 
should  not  the  agrarians  of  the  world  form  an  international 
alliance  with  a  central  bureau  in  London,  Washington,  Berlin 
or  Paris  for  the  protection  of  their  common  interests?  If 
this  were  done  might  not  a  common  policy  be  evolved  in  the 
interests  of  all?" 

From  Berlin  Lubin  and  his  party  proceeded  to  Budapest 
to  witness  the  festivities  with  which  Hungary  was  celebrat- 
ing the  thousandth  anniversary  of  her  national  life.  As 
fortune  willed  it,  on  this  occasion  an  international  congress 
was  meeting  in  that  city  to  inquire  into  the  very  matter 
uppermost  in  Lubin's  thoughts,  the  causes  of  and  remedies 
for  the  decline  in  the  world's  price  of  farm  staples.  Dele- 
gations had  come  from  many  countries,  but  the  United 
States  was  unrepresented.  Lubin  received  an  invitation 
from  the  Hungarian  Minister  of  Agriculture  to  attend.  As 
he  always  considered  that  the  address  he  delivered  before 
the  Congress  contained  the  first  outline  of  the  proposal 
which  was  to  crystallize  into  the  International  Institute 
of  Agriculture,  it  undoubtedly  claims  our  attention.  It  is, 
moreover,  a  typical  example  of  Lubin's  mode  of  presenta- 
tion, a  presentation  in  which  ideas  positively  jostle  one 
another  in  the  somewhat  clumsily  constructed  sentences. 

To  those  accustomed  to  keep  religion  and  economics 
wide  apart,  lodged  in  separate  watertight  compartments  of 
their  brain,  it  seems  full  of  references  to  irrelevant  matters, 
yet  its  very  originality  and  unexpectedness  sets  the  thought- 
ful mind  to  work. 

Lubin  first  inquires  whether  the  decline  in  values  com- 
plained of  has  been  general,  "for  if  all  other  commodities, 
including  interest,  taxes,  rent,  incomes,  and  wages  have 
correspondingly  declined,  then  a  uniform  decline  can  have 
no  adverse  effect  upon  agriculture.  An  adverse  condition 
may  only  result  from  a  disturbance  in  the  relative  exchange 
value,  or  in  an  unequal  mode  of  distribution." 


136  DAVID  LUBIN 

Having  shown  the  existence  of  this  adverse  condition 
he  refers  to  the  alternative  remedies  then  offered  in  the 
United  States,  —  the  remonetization  of  silver  in  the  ratio 
of  16  to  1 ;  a  higher  protective  tariff ;  and,  finally,  an  export 
bounty  on  the  staples,  or,  failing  that,  free  trade. 

That  the  arguments  of  the  free  trade  advocates,  which 
had  met  him  at  every  turn  of  his  campaign,  had  made  a 
deep  impression  on  his  mind  is  shown  by  the  following : 

Free  traders  now  step  in  and  say  that  any  and  all  restric- 
tive measures  are,  in  the  end,  injurious ;  that  as  the  farmers 
are  obliged  to  sell  their  products  at  the  world's  price  it  is 
an  injustice  to  compel  them  to  pay  protection  prices  on 
what  they  buy.  They  further  claim  that  the  maintenance 
of  artificially  raised  prices  for  necessities,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  a  constantly  lowering  world's  price  on  the  other,  must, 
in  the  end,  destroy  the  independent  land-owning  farmer.  .  .  . 
In  this  connection  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  remark  that  the 
general  public  has  but  a  feeble  idea  of  the  real  cost,  the  real 
tax  of  protection  by  a  tariff  on  imports.  .  .  .  When  pro- 
tection really  protects  it  enhances  the  import  and  the  home 
price  not  alone  by  the  addition  of  the  duty,  but  also  by  the 
addition  of  the  profits  thereon,  a  conservative  estimate 
of  which  would  be  15  per  cent  for  the  importer,  20  per  cent 
for  the  jobber,  and  25  per  cent  for  the  retailer,  which  in 
calculation  is  compounded,  and  nearly  doubles  the  original 
amount  shown  by  the  Government  schedules.  This  pro- 
tectionists, as  a  rule,  deny,  and  yet  it  can  be  readily  confirmed 
by  the  accounts  of  merchants,  showing  that  protectionists 
seem  to  deal  in  advantage  rather  than  in  truth. 

But  again  dread  of  the  competition  of  cheap  Oriental 
labor,  so  firmly  implanted  in  the  Californian,  made  Lubin 
fight  shy  of  free  trade.  He  proceeds  to  set  forth  his  casein  a 
way  which  cannot  but  have  surprised  the  practical-minded 
agrarians  he  was  addressing. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  "Culture  Kampf " ;  in  the 
future  very  much  more  will  be  said  about  the  "economic 
kampf."     Tariffs  and  restrictions  will  dash  and  clash,  but 


THE  HORIZON  WIDENS  137 

in  the  end  the  restrictive  walls  must  crumble  by  their  own 
unwieldy  weight  and  fall ;  and  the  flood  of  general  advantage 
will  take  the  place  of  obscure,  unjust  factionalism  and 
sectionalism.  From  now  on,  and  until  a  universal  level  is 
reached,  there  will  be  warfare,  not  a  warfare  of  bullets  or 
even  of  ballots ;  it  will  be  by  efficient  means  of  production, 
and  the  fittest  will  survive. 

This  warfare  is  actually  being  fought  now,  but  the  state 
of  the  fight  is  as  yet  only  a  skirmish ;  England  with  her  75 
cents  a  day  wage-rate  against  the  German  60  cents,  or  the 
French  55,  and  the  American  $1.25.  This  is  a  mere  prelude 
to  the  fierce  battle  which  will  ensue  when  several  hundred 
millions  of  Orientals  will  step  to  the  front  and  operate 
throttle  and  lever  at  the  rate  of  from  8  to  20  cents  a  day. 

Let  us  consider  that  what  is  usually  termed  wages  is, 
after  all,  a  measure  of  privileges.  Where  privileges  are 
scant  there  wages  are  meager.  In  the  world-battle  the 
Oriental  sought  peace,  the  Occidental  privileges.  Charac- 
ters are  now  stereotyped,  the  one  in  submission,  the  other 
in  aggression;  the  former  defenseless,  the  latter  armed, 
armed  in  his  more  developed  mind,  in  conceded  rights,  in 
his  method  of  production,  in  the  mechanical  appliances  for 
labor.  These  he  has  created,  invented ;  and  so  long  as  he 
alone  is  the  exclusive  user  of  them,  so  long  may  he  continue 
to  hold  and  enlarge  his  privileges.  When,  however,  the 
time  will  come  when  the  Oriental  will  likewise  employ  these 
appliances,  these  machines,  then  will  have  arrived  a  time 
of  new  and  strange  struggles  for  new  adjustments. 

.  .  .  What  then  should  be  done  now,  at  this  time  ?  Cease 
exporting  machinery?  No,  that  cannot  be  done.  All 
that  can  be  done  is  to  agree  to  unite  all  the  power  at  our 
command  in  an  endeavor  so  to  modify  conditions  as  best 
to  promote  our  several  advantages,  not  advantages  which 
one  individual  holds  or  intends  to  obtain  at  the  expense  of 
his  brother,  not  an  advantage  to  one  country  at  the  expense 
of  another ;  that  is  barbarism  and  robbery.  We  should  aim 
to  cultivate  that  which  will  be  of  advantage  to  our  neighbor, 
and  in  this  we  will  most  surely  find  our  own  highest  advan- 
tage. 

To  do  this  requires  not  only  will  but  wisdom,  and  wisdom 


138  DAVID  LUBIN 

may  be  more  readily  found  in  union,  in  deliberation,  and 
in  interchange  of  experiences. 

Such  a  union  has  been  suggested  by  that  able  and  eminent 
economist.  Professor  Dr.  Max  Seering  of  Berlin  in  the  forma- 
tion of  a  permanent  International  Association  of  Agricul- 
tural Organizations  with  the  aim  of  the  general  promotion 
of  agricultural  interests  in  the  civilized  countries.  While 
at  first  thought  it  may  seem  that  the  various  and  conflicting 
interests  would  not  permit  the  growth  and  development  of 
such  an  organization,  yet  on  sober  second  thought  it  must  be 
admitted  that  much  more  good  than  harm  can  be  done  by 
such  an  Association.  Why  then  should  not  such  an  organi- 
zation be  formed  ? 

Here  we  have  indeed  a  widening  of  the  horizon.  In 
1893  the  Californian  had  become  an  American,  in  1896 
the  American  was  becoming  a  citizen  of  the  world. 

In  this  development  the  approach  was  made  essentially 
from  the  ethico-religious  rather  than  from  the  practical, 
economic  end.  During  these  years  of  development  Lubin 
had  been  thinking  hard  along  both  these  lines,  and  the  nearer 
he  got  to  the  Central  Theme  in  religion  the  clearer  became 
his  grasp  of  economic  truths. 

"No  political,  economic  or  social  system  can  be  just  or 
equitable  which  does  not  rest  on  the  solid  foundation  of 
justice  and  equity.  And  can  that  be  justice  and  equity 
which  is  not  grounded  in  universal  law?"  he  was  to  write  a 
year  or  two  later.  It  was  this  constant  endeavor  to  make 
his  practical  work  conform  to  universal  law  which  was 
freeing  Lubin  from  his  prejudices  and  limitations.  Right 
thinking  in  the  abstract  was  leading  to  right  action  in  the 
concrete.  The  man  was  constantly  developing  from  within. 
Years  of  work  and  travel,  of  observation  and  discussion  had 
stored  his  mind  with  a  great  variety  of  facts  and  thoughts, 
fully  or  partially  grasped,  and  he  was  now  using  this  data 
for  ever  wider  generalizations. 

On  his  return  to  the  United  States  in  December,  1896, 
Lubin  settled  in  Philadelphia.  McKinley  had  been  elected 
President,  and  it  was  known  that  one  of  the  first  acts  of 


THE  HORIZON  WTOENS  139 

the  new  Administration  would  be  a  revision  of  the  tariff. 
Was  the  farmer's  claim  to  be  again  ignored,  or  would  he 
receive  his  share  of  protection  ?  Lubin  found  himself  again 
in  the  thick  of  the  fight.  His  proposal  had  attracted  tenta- 
tive support  from  a  rather  unexpected  quarter.  The  ship- 
building interests,  which  had  suffered  heavily  from  the  high- 
protective  tariff,  were  trying  to  arouse  public  interest  in 
the  need  for  an  American  merchant  marine,  and  Lubin's 
proposal  seemed  to  offer  a  means  of  furthering  their  ends 
while  gaining  to  their  side  the  large  body  of  public  opinion 
represented  by  the  American  farmers.  A  conference  of  the 
South  Atlantic  ship-builders  went  on  record  in  its  favor, 
but  .  .  .  there  was  a  "but"  attached  to  their  support. 
The  measure  was  to  be  for  a  bounty  on  agricultural  exports 
"providing  they  were  shipped  in  American  bottoms." 

Lubin  could  see  that  this  would  amount,  in  practice,  to 
handing  the  bounty  over  to  the  shipping  men ;  the  farmers 
would  be  no  better  off  than  before.  Protected  by  a  practical 
monopoly,  the  American  charter  rates  would  rise  to  a  figure 
which  would  absorb  the  bounty,  and  the  price  of  the  staple 
would  be  unaffected  both  on  the  export  and  home  market. 

Tempting  as  the  offer  appeared  on  the  surface,  Lubin 
refused  to  secure  what  might  have  been  a  personal  success  — 
that  of  carrying  his  measure  through  Congress  —  at  the 
cost  of  stultifying  its  real  purpose.  He  decided  that  it  must 
stand  or  fall  on  its  own  merits. 

He  was  determined,  however,  to  fight  to  the  last  ditch, 
and  in  the  closing  six  months  of  the  campaign  the  contest 
waged  with  redoubled  energy. 

He  memorialized  Congress.  His  old  friend  Senator 
Perkins  of  California  had  several  of  his  papers  made  into 
public  documents,  and  Lubin  saw  to  it  that  the  franking 
privilege  granted  to  such  was  used  to  good  purpose.  He 
attacked  the  orthodox  protectionists  in  their  stronghold 
and  practically  stumped  Pennsylvania,  speaking  throughout 
the  State  to  show  the  inequities  of  the  one-sided  system  of 
protection.     Faithful  to  his  plan  of  never  making  it  a  class 


140  DAVID  LUBIN 

issue,  a  farmers'  fight,  he  took  the  matter  up  with  the  Central 
Labor  Union  and  got  the  annual  conference  of  that  influen- 
tial body  of  organized  workers  to  pass  a  resolution  stating 
that  "so  long  as  our  manufacturers  are  protected  in  what 
they  produce  by  a  tariff  on  imports,  justice,  equity,  and 
expediency  demand  as  an  offset  an  equal  protection  to  agri- 
culture by  a  bounty  on  exports."  Labor  joining  hands 
with  agriculture  made  a  threatening  combination,  and  the 
orthodox  Republican  press  got  quite  worked  up  about  this 
"crank"  from  the  wild  and  woolly  West  who  was  stirring  up 
trouble  in  the  happy  home,  defeating  protection  by  out- 
Heroding  Herod. 

But  perhaps  his  most  original  move  in  the  campaign  was 
the  effort  —  the  successful  effort  —  he  made  to  win  the  pul- 
pits of  the  various  denominations  to  espouse  the  cause  for 
which  he  stood.  His  efforts  resulted  in  the  formation,  in 
Philadelphia,  of  a  Lubin  Club  with  a  membership  of  some 
fifty-five  ministers  of  the  different  churches  pledged  to 
support  the  proposal  for  even-handed  protection  as  between 
industries  and  agriculture.  In  March  a  deputation  of  five 
clergymen  waited  on  President  McKinley  and  presented 
an  address,  reminding  him  that  he  had  already  undertaken 
to  have  the  Lubin  proposal  carefully  studied. 

"As  this  question  involves  the  principles  of  equity  and 
justice  it  is  the  purpose  of  many  of  the  clergymen  we  repre- 
sent to  devote  their  time  and  energy  to  this  work  and  to 
deliver  addresses  in  their  places  of  worship  as  well  as  through 
this  and  other  States  of  the  Union.  ...  As  this  proposition 
has  been  before  you  for  consideration  for  the  past  sixteen 
months  it  is  most  respectfully  desired  that  you  give  us  your 
conclusions." 

But  McKinley  was  not  to  be  drawn,  and  the  Republican 
press  roundly  rated  the  ministers  of  religion  and  advised 
them  to  "  confine  their  attention  to  their  congregations 
and  the  subject  of  their  discourses  to  such  as  are  naturally 
suggested  by  the  Bible." 

A  little  later  on  "See  that  the  Republic  receives  no  harm" 


THE  HORIZON  WmENS  141 

was  selected  by  nine  Philadelphia  clergymen  as  the  subject 
for  an  address  from  the  pulpit  in  which  on  the  same  day  they 
drew  attention  to  the  ethical  and  economical  phases  of  pro- 
tection in  relation  to  Lubin's  proposal. 

In  seeking  the  support  of  the  different  churches  Lubin 
was  perfectly  logical,  for  "equity"  not  "advantage"  was 
his  watchword,  and  he  always  maintained  that  such  work 
was  not  "secular"  but  "sacred";  it  was  to  him  the  very 
essence  of  reUgion  in  general  and  of  the  religion  of  Israel 
in  particular. 

In  May,  1897,  the  Dingley  Tariff  Bill  was  up  for  action  in 
Congress.  It  was  a  foregone  conclusion  that  it  would  pass. 
The  interests  arrayed  in  its  support  were  far  too  powerful 
in  the  halls  of  legislation  to  allow  the  farmers'  claims,  as 
embodied  in  the  Lubin  proposal  to  stultify  the  high  protec- 
tionist policy.  Lubin  was  the  leader  of  a  forlorn  hope,  but 
he  made  a  plucky  fight  to  the  end.  Senator  Frank  Cannon 
of  Utah,  converted  from  an  opponent  into  a  fervent  upholder 
of  "equity  in  protection",  introduced  an  amendment  to  the 
Dingley  Bill  whereby  "any  exporter  of  wheat  or  wheat 
flour,  rye  or  rye  flour,  com,  ground  or  unground,  cotton, 
hops,  or  tobacco,  produced  wholly  in  the  United  States  and 
exported  by  sea  from  any  port  in  the  United  States"  should 
receive  a  specified  export  bounty  "by  way  of  an  equalization 
to  agriculture  of  the  benefits  of  this  act  to  encourage  the 
industries  of  the  United  States." 

The  amendment  was  defeated  by  a  large  majority. 

To  snatch  victory  from  the  jaws  of  defeat  was  now  the 
purpose  to  which  Lubin's  efforts  were  directed ;  but  the 
victory  he  had  in  mind  was  no  small,  immediate  political 
success.  The  three  and  a  half  years'  campaign  had  not  been 
wasted  time ;  the  experience  had  been  intensely  educational, 
and  the  first  one  to  profit  thereby  had  been  the  promulgator 
himself.  He  had  learned  much  from  the  criticisms  of  the 
free  traders,  he  had  learned  still  more  from  his  contact  with 
the  viewpoint  of  economists  in  foreign  countries.  While  his 
premise  had  stood  the  test  and  come  out  unscathed  from  the 


142  DAVID  LUBIN 

ordeal,  he  had  come  to  see  flaws  in  the  proposed  remedy. 
When  tried  by  the  selfish  standards  of  the  advocates  of  a 
high  tariff  it  was  unshaken;  from  that  point  of  view  all 
considerations  of  fairness  demanded  that  the  farmer  should 
be  given  his  share  of  protection.  But  there  was  a  broader 
and  a  higher  standpoint  from  which  the  whole  question 
could  be  considered,  one  more  in  line  with  ideal  justice. 

The  price  of  the  staples,  he  argued,  was  determined  by 
world  conditions;  low  prices  in  certain  countries  lowered 
the  price  in  others.  The  narrow  point  of  view  was  to  accept 
this  as  a  fact  and  to  seek  a  national  advantage,  to  apply 
the  poultice  of  protection  in  the  form  of  export  bounties 
to  the  evil  due  to  international  inequities  in  price  formation. 
But  even  as  he  preached  this  remedy  he  began  to  perceive 
its  inadequacy,  to  have  an  inkling  that  it  was  empirical. 

After  all,  what  determined  the  price  of  such  a  farm  staple 
as  wheat?  The  ratio  between  demand  and  supply.  What 
was  the  supply  ?  Was  it  the  supply  of  a  County,  of  a  State, 
of  a  Nation  ?  No,  it  was  the  total  available  supply  from  all 
wheat-growing  countries.  Now,  hoT^,  was  the  amoimt  of 
this  supply  determined  ? 

This  was  a  fundamental  question,  and  one  which  was  to 
occupy  his  thoughts  much  during  the  next  few  years,  for  he 
could  see  clearly  that  the  individuals,  nations,'  or  con- 
stituted authorities  who  gave  out  this  price-forming  factor 
would  have  it  in  their  power  to  manipulate  prices,  to  corner 
markets,  and  to  defeat  any  attempt  to  secure  justice  for 
the  farmer  by  national  legislative  action. 

But  before  engaging  in  this  fight  for  justice  in  the  inter- 
national field,  the  last  and  logical  development  of  his 
labors,  an  interval  of  some  years  was  to  elapse,  during 
which  he  was  to  clarify  his  underlying  thought  and 
strengthen  the  ethico-religious  foundations  of  his  economic 
labors. 

Then,  too,  the  claims  of  his  personal  life  required  attention. 
For  years  he  had  been  absorbed  in  public  matters  well  nigh 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  else.    Yet,  in  a  certain  sense,  he  was 


THE  HORIZON  WIDENS  143 

deeply  attached  to  family  life.  His  personal  happiness 
was  entirely  dependent  on  it.  Apart  from  the  duties  im- 
posed on  him  by  the  Service  to  which  he  was  self-dedicated, 
the  company  of  wife  and  children  was  the  only  company 
he  sought ;  his  own  fireside  the  one  place  where  he  loved  to 
develop  the  dawning  intelligence  of  his  children,  to  converse 
with  a  few  choice  friends,  to  read  his  favorite  books. 

In  nothing  were  the  contradictions  of  his  character,  con- 
tradictions resulting  from  inherited  tradition  and  tempera- 
ment in  contrast  with  environment  and  reasoned  conviction, 
more  striking  than  in  his  attitude  towards  woman.  Theo- 
retically he  placed  woman  on  a  high  pedestal,  but  he  could 
not  bring  himself  to  accept  the  modem  attitude  which  not 
only  sees  in  her  the  equal  of  man,  but  would  give  her  similar 
functions  in  the  world.  His  idealized  woman  was  essentially 
intuitional;  not  only  the  home-maker  but  the  priestess  in 
the  home ;  a  delight  and  an  inspiration  to  her  husband,  an 
educator  to  her  children,  leading  a  sheltered  life,  able  to 
share  through  spiritual  insight  in  his  highest  thoughts  and 
aspirations,  but  recognizing  her  essential  difference  if  not 
her  inferiority  to  man.  Indeed,  he  considered  her  in  many 
respects  his  superior,  yet  he  expected  her  to  acknowledge 
the  authority  and  mastership  of  man  in  all  relations  of  life. 
Lubin's  ideas  in  this  matter  were  those  of  an  age  which  is 
fast  disappearing,  and  the  environment  in  which  he  lived 
was  becoming  every  year  more  and  more  at  variance  with 
his  instinct.  He  did  not  like  to  see  women  in  politics  or  in 
professions ;  he  was  prejudiced  in  favor  of  very  early  mar- 
riages; he  felt  no  sympathy  with  the  claim  of  woman  to 
economic  independence.  Yet  no  man  ever  felt  more  keenly 
the  need  of  woman's  sympathy  and  help.  Pursuing  his 
economic  work  with  all  the  fervor  of  a  religious  mission  he 
realized  that  nothing  would  be  of  such  great  help  to  the 
holy  cause  of  righteousness  he  had  at  heart  as  the  enthu- 
siasm and  support  of  women,  in  whom,  indeed,  all  great 
religious  teachers  have  found  their  most  devoted  and  effective 
disciples.    He  realized  that  the  spiritual  nobility  he  so  highly 


144  DAVID  LUBIN 

prized  is  the  crowning  glory  of  perf,ect  spiritual  freedom, 
but  he  failed  to  see  that  under  modern  conditions  this  implies 
the  subsidiary  forms  not  only  of  personal  but  also  of  eco- 
nomic and  political  freedom.  In  this  respect  the  possessive 
instinct  was  often  stronger  than  his  reason.  The  wife 
might  be  the  priestess  in  the  home,  but  the  man  was  the 
master ;  and  master  is  a  word  against  which  the  twentieth 
century,  for  good  and  for  evil,  is  rebelling. 

In  1897  he  remarried  and  again  took  up  his  residence  in 
California,  making  his  home  in  San  Francisco,  where  he 
resumed  business  activities,  opening  a  branch  of  the  Sacra- 
mento Department  Store,  no  longer  the  "Mechanic's  Store" 
of  early  days,  but  a  full-fledged  corporation,  Weinstock, 
Lubin  and  Company. 

Though  engaged  in  no  active  campaign,  Lubin  could  not 
lie  fallow.  Much  of  the  unrest  of  future  years  was  brewing 
in  those  late  nineties,  years  when  the  capitalistic  industrial 
system  had  attained  perhaps  its  fullest  expression ;  when 
abundance,  such  as  the  present  generation  may  never  again 
hope  to  enjoy,  flooded  civilized  countries  with  cheap  prod- 
ucts of  all  kinds,  when  science  had  placed  comforts  and 
conveniences,  formerly  undreamed  of  even  in  the  seats  of 
the  mighty,  within  the  reach  of  the  humblest.  Yet  the  very 
prevalence  of  material  prosperity  accentuated  the  contrast 
with  the  poverty  and  distress  of  the  surplus  labor  which 
formed  the  basis  on  which  capitalistic  industrialism  rested, 
that  surplus  labor  which  crowded  the  city  slums  and  men- 
acingly raised  its  head  in  times  of  exceptional  unemploy- 
ment, giving  pause  for  thought  even  to  the  most  complacent. 

Those  were  years  of  great  activity  in  the  ranks  of  organized 
labor ;  socialism  was  sowing  the  seed  which  was  to  fructify 
in  the  social  upheavals  of  to-day  and  Lubin  was  closely  in 
touch  with  these  movements  through  his  lifelong  friend 
Sam  Gompers,  through  Andrew  Furuseth,  the  sailors' 
champion  of  whom  he  saw  much  in  San  Francisco,  and 
through  many  others  with  whom  his  work  brought  him  in 
contact  all  over  the  country. 


THE  HORIZON  WIDENS  145 

While  on  the  surface  all  looked  serene,  a  turning  point 
in  history  had  been  reached.  Not  only  was  there  simmering 
industrial  unrest,  but  spiritually  also  the  modern  world 
had  lost  its  bearings.  Current  religious  creeds  had  lost 
their  hold  on  the  masses  as  well  as  on  the  intelligentsia. 
Even  that  bed-rock  of  social  life,  the  family,  was  under- 
going radical  transformation;  the  "woman's  movement" 
was  certainly  not  the  least  revolutionary  symptom  of  the 
times. 

Lubin  was  keenly  sensitive  to  all  this.  He  felt  that 
society  was  living  on  the  crust  of  a  volcano,  and  this  forti- 
fied his  conviction  of  the  imperious  need  of  strengthening 
the  conservative  element  in  a  democracy,  the  landowning 
farmer.  But  at  the  same  time  he  became  more  and  more 
convinced  that  right  thinking,  a  sound  "Central  Theme" 
is  a  preessential  to  right  action ;  that  a  spiritual  revival 
must  be  an  integral  part  of  an  economic  readjustment. 
"What  a  false  level,  a  false  plumb,  a  false  square  and  a 
false  compass  are  in  building,  such  is  the  postulating  of 
false  attributes  of  God  in  religion  with  its  reflex  action  on 
the  social  structure."  These  words  which  occur  in  his  book 
"Let  There  Be  Light",  then  taking  shape  in  his  mind,  clearly 
state  his  position.  Ought  not  then  the  work  of  the  re- 
former to  lie  in  clarifying  religious  thought  ? 

The  questions-  stirring  in  his  mind  as  a  youth  in  Arizona, 
as  a  young  man  in  Palestine,  were  still  clamoring  for  answer ; 
he  now  felt  prepared  to  formulate  a  reply.  Experience, 
reading,  constant  and  deep  reflection  had  stored  his  mind 
with  the  data  requisite  for  drawing  the  higher  generaliza- 
tions. 

His  scattered  writings  during  three  years  of  comparative 
inactivity  in  San  Francisco  indicate  that  it  was  the  ethical 
side  of  the  economic  and  social  problem  which  engaged  his 
thoughts  rather  than  the  practical  solutions  on  which  he 
had  worked  so  hard  in  preceding  years.  That  he  attached 
no  less  importance  to  equity  in  the  home  than  in  the  other 
spheres  of  life  is  evidenced  by  an  article  he  wrote  which 


146  DAVID  LUBIN 

gave  rise  to  a  wide  discussion  in  the  columns  of  the  San 
Francisco  Bulletin. 

"Are  the  scales  evenly  balanced?"  was  the  question 
raised  in  his  mind  by  the  debates  on  woman's  rights,  so 
frequently  and  so  hotly  argued  in  those  years.  Is  the  man 
entitled  to  claim  credit  as  the  sole  "bread  winner"  in  the 
home?  By  no  means,  Lubin  points  out;  the  function  of 
wisely  exchanging  money  for  goods,  the  function  of  the 
housewife,  frequently  requires  skill  of  a  higher  order  than 
that  of  exchanging  labor  for  money,  and  the  wife  in  the 
home  performs  a  task  demanding  ability  similar  to  that 
of  the  highly  paid  "head  of  department"  in  a  store.  "The 
intelligent  outlay  of  the  earnings  of  the  husband  in  the 
interest  of  the  family  by  his  wife  is  as  much  a  part  of  earning 
a  living  as  is  the  labor  of  her  husband ;  her  position  is  there- 
fore that  of  an  equal,  a  partner,  a  helpmeet ;  both  are  inter- 
dependent, yet  independent  and  free." 

In  another  symposium  which  he  started  by  an  article 
entitled  "Should  it  be  Labor  or  should  it  be  Service",  he 
examines  the  ethical  side  of  the  labor  question  in  the  form 
of  a  dialogue  between  a  Man  of  Earth  and  a  Man  of  Mars. 
The  truth  which  David  Lubin  tried  to  teach  might  well 
give  pause  for  thought  in  our  day  when  labor  loudly  claims 
recognition  as  the  most  important  factor  in  the  State. 
"Begin,"  says  Lubin's  Man  of  Mars,  "by  avoiding  the  over- 
praise of  such  labor  as  renders  inefficient  service.  Where, 
in  universal  law,  will  you  find  the  undeveloped  preferred 
to  the  developed?  The  idealization  of  that  kind  of  labor 
which  does  not  render  efficient  service  is  a  fiction,  a  lie,  a 
delusion,  and  untrue  to  universal  law.  We  esteem  those 
the  most  illustrious  who  render  the  greatest  service;  your 
system  gives  a  theoretic,  empty  and  fictitious  title  to  labor, 
while  in  reality  it  gives  the  substantial  profits  to  those  shrewd 
enough  to  absorb  them.  Your  system  seeks  to  absorb 
service ;  ours,  on  the  contrary,  seeks  to  expand  service." 

Self-development  by  observation,  generalization,  and 
synthesis  as  a  preparation  for  Service,  this,  he  believed. 


THE  HORIZON  WIDENS  147 

was  the  duty  of  every  man  **made  in  the  image  of  God'*, 
no  matter  how  lowly  his  station.  To  encourage  and  facili- 
tate the  accomplishment  of  this  duty  should  be  the  func- 
tion of  democracy,  as  opposed  to  aristocracy  which  reserved 
the  highest  development  as  the  privilege  of  the  few.  The 
most  powerful  instrument  in  this  development  should  be 
the  Church,  the  great  educator,  training  man  to  use  his 
senses  so  as  to  understand  the  laws  of  God. 

These  were  the  thoughts  which  led  David  Lubin  for  the 
next  few  years  to  approach  the  problems  of  righteousness 
from  the  angle  of  right  thinking  rather  than  to  push  his 
practical  schemes  for  right  acting.  He  took  a  step  back  in 
the  arena  of  action,  much  as  a  runner  recoils  before  making 
the  final  rush  and  leap  which  is  to  clear  the  obstacles  in  his 
path  and  land  him  at  the  goal. 


CHAPTER  IX 

"let  there  be  light'* 

"Let  There  Be  Light !"  These  words,  not  as  command 
but  as  prayer,  summarize  the  efforts  and  endeavors  of  David 
Lubin  during  the  years  of  preparation  for  his  ultimate  work. 

The  conclusions  drawn  from  earnest  thought  and  endeavor 
in  the  field  of  reform  left  him  at  this  time  somewhat  dubious 
as  to  the  path  he  should  follow.  Was  it  not  necessary  to 
lay  a  sound  foundation  for  practical  work  by  inculcating 
right  ideas  in  the  abstract  as  a  preliminary?  Would  not 
right  thinking  necessarily  bring  about  right  action?  Was 
not  the  real  need  of  the  age  a  religious  revival?  And  then 
again  the  knowledge  of  his  own  limitations  made  him  hes- 
itate. For  twenty-five  years  he  had  been  reading  widely 
and  thoughtfully  the  works  of  American  and  English  econ- 
omists, sociologists,  philosophers,  historians,  theologians ; 
they  had  taught  him  much ;  above  all  they  had  taught  him 
how  much  he  did  not  know.  The  following  passages  from 
letters  written  in  1900-1901  to  his  son  Simon  on  his  pro- 
gram for  study  at  Harvard  show  the  equipment  he  be- 
lieved necessary  to  the  speculative  thinker : 

And  now  a  point  in  your  studies  to  which  I  wish  to  draw 
attention.  I  note  that  you  omit  entirely  any  practical  study 
of  physics  or  mathematics,  and  I  am  afraid  that  with- 
out these  it  is  not  possible  to  analyze  or  synthesize  prop- 
erly. .  .  . 

And  again : 

Since  writing  you  last  I  have  thought  over  the  subject, 
and  the  more  I  think  it  over  the  more  conclusive  my  opinion 
becomes  that  the  studies  you  have  chosen  are  not  likely 
to  do  you  nearly  as  much  good  as  studies  in  the  domain  of 


"LET  THERE  BE  LIGHT"  149 

Science.  The  reason  why  I  did  not  advise  this  at  the  start 
is  because  my  lack  of  experience  as  technical  student  did 
not  permit  me  to  come  to  this  conclusion  in  a  positive  form, 
though  you  may  remember  I  spoke  on  several  occasions 
of  it. 

Intuitively,  however,  you  will  see  from  my  book  "Let 
There  Be  Light  '*  that  I  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
future  training  of  man,  tlirough  the  Church,  should  be  by 
the  study  of  phenomena  or  through  science.  And  this  con- 
clusion, while  ahead  of  the  times  for  general  adoption,  is, 
I  am  sure,  a  sound  conclusion  in  your  case.  If  we  read  the 
**AIore  Nabuchim"  [Maimonides'  "Guide  to  the  Perplexed"] 
carefully  we  find  that  the  "secrets  of  the  Torah"  (specu- 
lative philosophy)  were  only  transmitted  to  one  who  was  a 
graduate  in  the  sciences,  and  such  receiving  it  were  "doctors 
of  the  Law"  whereas  all  others  are  of  no  value  as  authority. 
Among  the  essential  sciences  mentioned  by  Maimonides  are 
mathematics,  astronomy,  anatomy,  chemistry,  and  the 
healing  art.     But  to-day  this  list  may  be  amended. 

To  begin  with  speculative  philosophy  is  to  end  a  Jesuitical 
theorist,  a  crank.  Speculative  learning  may  educate  a  man 
to  be  at  home  with  himself,  but  in  a  monk's  cell.  Science  so 
educates  a  man  that  he  is  always  at  home  in  all  the  world. 
It  is  the  study  of  science  which  fits  a  man  to  become  a  real 
speculative  philosopher.  To  begin  with  speculative  phi- 
losophy is  the  lazy  way  of  trying  to  acquire  wisdom.  Specu- 
lative philosophy  proper  should  only  be  the  profit,  the  prod- 
uct of  science. 

A  little  later  on  he  returns  to  the  charge : 

As  I  understand  the  matter,  no  one  can  achieve  an  eminent 
standing  in  speculative  philosophy  who  has  not  served  a 
long  and  faithful  apprenticeship  in  the  sciences.  It  seems 
to  me  that  any  one  devoting  himself  to  speculative  phi- 
losophy without  a  grounding  in  the  sciences  must  either 
become  a  textbook  man  or  a  crank.  This  is  even  more 
likely  to  be  the  case  with  a  University  student  than  with  a 
man  studying  who  is  in  business;  the  latter,  through  con- 
flict with  the  world,  has  checks  to  crankiness,  whereas  the 
former  has  this  tendency  to  its  maximum.  ...     As  it  seems 


150  DAVID  LUBIN 

to  me,  there  should  be  no  generalizing  at  the  start;  there 
should  be  the  foundations,  well  grounded,  of  such  sciences 
as  mathematics,  astromony,  chemistry,  biology,  mechanical 
motion,  philology,  optics  and  acoustics. 

Lubin  lacked  this  preparation,  though  in  his  case,  the 
school  of  life  and  practical  business  experience  had  trained 
the  mind  to  logical,  positive  thinking.  But  he  held  firmly 
to  the  democratic  doctrine  that  all  men  have  the  power, 
if  they  will  but  exert  it,  of  reasoning  from  experience.  With- 
out arrogating  to  himself  the  rank  of  teacher,  he  therefore 
decided  to  approach  the  problems  humbly,  as  a  searcher  after 
truth,  quoting  as  his  authorities  the  standard  textbooks  of 
his  day,  laying  no  claim  to  original  research,  but  drawing 
deductions  from  given  data,  and  to  throw  his  treatise  into 
the  form  of  a  series  of  debates  on  political,  social  and  labor 
questions  held  by  the  members  of  a  workingman*s  club. 

This  resulted  in  a  book,  published  by  Putnam  in  1900, 
under  the  title  "Let  There  Be  Light'*,  which  fully  engaged 
his  activities  during  1898-1899. 

Desirous  of  securing  a  wide  hearing,  addressing  himself 
not  to  scholars  but  to  thoughtful  men  and  women  of  all 
classes,  Lubin  sought  to  avail  himself  of  the  attractions  of 
fiction.  He  threw  his  book  into  the  form  of  a  story  in  which 
he  tried  to  show  the  viewpoint  of  the  wealthy  capitalist  who 
has  risen  from  the  ranks,  and  of  his  well-to-do  nephew  and 
niece,  who  represent  the  leisured,  cultured  class,  in  contrast 
with  that  of  the  intelligent  working  man,  whether  con- 
servative trade-unionist,  socialist  agitator,  or  humble  ac- 
ceptor of  the  status  quo.  These,  represented  by  American, 
Italian,  German,  Irishman,  and  Negro,  he  groups  round  the 
central  figure,  Ezra,  a  Jew  gifted  with  the  fine  speculative 
brain  characteristic  of  his  race,  who  by  argument,  debate, 
criticism  and  thought  has  attained  a  degree  of  spiritual 
freedom  which  enables  him  to  view  events  not  as  isolated 
phenomena  but  as  links  in  a  chain  of  cause  and  effect.  The 
prevailing  social  and  economic  order  comes  up  for  discussion 
before  the  Twentieth  Century  Club  in  a  series  of  debates 


"LET  THERE  BE  LIGHT'*  151 

on  "The  Republic  and  its  Destiny",  the  "Industrial  and 
Social  Question",  "Competition  and  Collectivism*',  "Social- 
ism." Ezra  sees  in  the  injustice  complained  of  evidence  of 
wrong  thought  resulting  in  wrong  action  with  its  concom- 
itant evils.  He  summarizes  the  debates,  leading  those  pres- 
ent to  assent  to  the  proposition  that  civilizations  decline  or 
prosper  according  to  the  degree  in  which  they  conform  or 
deviate  from  universal  law.  His  idea  is  conveyed  in  this 
quotation  from  "Let  There  Be  Light :" 

To  illustrate:  A  house  can,  no  doubt  be  built  without 
the  use  of  the  square,  the  compass,  the  plumb,  and  the 
level,  but  it  cannot  be  built  so  quickly  or  so  truly  as  with 
these  aids.  A  cathedral  or  palace  could  never  be  built 
without  them.  Now  what  are  these  things?  Are  they 
not  material  embodiments  of  universal  law?  They  cer- 
tainly are.  If  then  they  can  best  build  houses  who  conform 
to  universal  law,  is  it  not  equally  necessary  to  adhere  to 
universal  law  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  social  structure? 
Surely.  ...  In  the  higher  development  of  industrial  and 
social  systems  it  is  necessary  to  conform  as  strictly  as  possible 
to  universal  law.  And  if  so,  must  not  universal  law  become 
our  standard,  our  central  theme,  our  criterion,  our  rule 
to  go  by?  So  long  as  we  lack  this  criterion  we  are  like  a 
ship  at  sea  without  rudder  or  compass.  Having  this  we  can 
sail  on  our  true  course.  But  whether  our  progress  shall 
then  be  in  harmony  with  the  law  of  least  resistance  depends 
upon  the  quality  of  our  perception  of  universal  law.  The 
more  nearly  perfect  our  perception,  the  more  truly  will 
our  criterion  harmonize  therewith.  .  .  .  Are  our  political, 
social  and  economic  institutions  grounded  on  universal  law  ? 
If  not,  any  mere  change  in  the  present  system  which  fails 
to  take  cognizance  of  universal  law  can  be  no  improvement. 
What  test  can  we  apply  which  will  determine  this  question 
as  accurately  as  a  plumb  determines  for  us  the  true  line  of 
gravitation?  I  know  of  but  one  .  .  .  that  central  theme 
which  actuates  us  and  from  which  we  receive  our  highest 
inspirations  for  thought  and  deed.  What  then  is  our  Cen- 
tral Theme  and  what  should  it  be  ? 


152  DAVID  LUBIN 

The  debaters  are  thus  brought  face  to  face  with  the  ques- 
tion of  religion.  If  a  man's  thoughts  shape  his  actions, 
what  subject  can  be  so  important  to  the  reformer  as  to 
make  sure  that  this  action-shaping  force,  this  spiritual 
dynamo,  is  working  along  right  lines  ? 

One  by  one  the  debaters  set  forth  their  views.  The 
Italian  sees  salvation  in  the  Catholic  Church ;  another 
member  pins  his  faith  to  the  theme  as  embodied  in  the 
Presbyterian  creed ;  another  makes  an  eloquent  exposition 
of  the  doctrine  of  Unitarianism ;  the  Negro  makes  a  plea 
for  the  Baptist  Church,  while  the  Socialist  member  brushes 
all  this  aside,  makes  sport  of  the  doctrine  of  Jew  and  Chris- 
tian, and  attributes  hatred,  persecution  and  cruelty  to  the 
superstitious  conceptions  arising  from  belief  in  an  anthropo- 
morphic God.  "To  abolish  these  we  must  abolish  religion. 
Our  Central  Theme  is  here  without  it.  It  is  ever  present 
in  the  laws  of  Cause  and  Effect." 

Then  Ezra  takes  up  the  ball.  He  is  the  mouthpiece  for 
the  ideas  which  Lubin  had  arrived  at. 

The  Central  Theme,  by  which  our  actions  are  guided,  is 
obscured  by  ignorance,  an  ignorance  which  leads  the  mind 
to  ascribe  false  attributes  to  God.  A  finite  mind  cannot 
grasp  Infinity;  attempts  to  do  so  and  to  formulate  dog- 
matic conclusions  result  in  idolatry,  the  worship  of  false 
gods.  The  very  compass  by  which  we  steer  our  course  is 
thus  falsified,  and  all  the  aberrations  in  practical  action 
which  mar  social  systems  originate  in  such  false  conception 
of  the  Central  Theme.  Yet,  would  man  but  realize  it,  he 
has  within  his  reach  a  sure  guide  to  a  realization  of  the 
eternal  harmony  and  unerring  justice  which  rule  alike  the 
mote  and  the  star:  "The  laws  which  surround  us,  un- 
changing and  infinite,  we  know  and  feel  that  they  cannot 
err.  We  realize  that  they  cannot  be  partial  in  their  oper- 
ations; they  cannot  be  unjust;  they  cannot  be  set  aside. 
And  what  are  these  laws  but  the  manifestations,  the  messen- 
gers, the  agents  of  God  ?  " 

Surely  then  it  should  be  the  task  of  the  Church  to  train 


"LET  THERE  BE  LIGHT"  153 

the  people  to  seek  God  through  a  devout  study  of  His  laws. 
And  he  proceeds  to  develop  his  idea  of  a  church  which 
should  effectively  live  up  to  the  names  of  three  of  the  "most 
powerful  factors  in  the  development  of  the  human  race", 
Israel  "Champion  of  God",  Catholic  "Universal",  and 
Protestant  "one  who  protests."  "Combine  these  three  and 
we  have  the  Universal  Champion  of  God  in  constant  Pro- 
test against  ignorance  and  wrong.  This  Church  should  be 
for  the  mass  of  the  people  what  the  University  is  to  the 
favored  few.  The  endeavor  of  the  churches  should  be 
centered  on  the  amelioration  of  the  economic  and  social 
status  of  the  people." 

We  must  not  seek  for  the  essence  or  originality  of  David 
Lubin's  ideas  in  the  pages  in  which  he  sets  to  work  to  de- 
scribe the  mode  of  procedure  of  his  "Church  Universal." 
Rather  must  the  originality  of  his  mind  be  sought  in  the 
directness  with  which  he  applies  abstract  reasoning  to  con- 
crete facts.  Working  with  and  as  part  of  the  Church  Uni- 
versal he  would  have  the  people  in  every  district  form  into 
committees  for  social  service  so  that  the  teaching  of  the 
Church  may  react  immediately  on  the  actual  life  of  the 
nation.  Committees  on  factory  and  farm  labor,  on  trans- 
portation, on  public  amusements,  on  education,  on  news- 
papers, on  housing,  on  pure  food,  on  hygiene,  in  short,  on 
all  forms  of  social  activity  would  be  the  field  for  practical 
amelioration ;  he  would  set  all  to  thinking  and  generalizing, 
and  acting.  He  had  got  at  the  principle  so  much  discussed 
nowadays  under  its  Russian  name  of  Soviet;  the  effort  to 
make  the  masses  actual  participants  in  government. 

He  contemplated  undismayed  the  possibility  of  the  boldest 
experiments,  provided  the  spirit  that  inspired  them  be  an 
enlightened  endeavor  to  conform  to  universal  law ;  provided 
these  same  masses  be  educated  up  through  an  agency, 
which  he  thought  should  be  the  Church,  to  the  right  thinking 
essential  to  right  action. 

In  this  Lubin  departed  from  the  fashion  of  his  day,  which 
was  to  say,  *'What  do  a  man's  thoughts  matter?     We 


154  DAVID  LUBIN 

are  concerned  only  with  what  he  does."  For  him  the  essen- 
tial was  the  thought  behind  the  action,  for  by  it  the  action 
would  be  determined.  And  his  criterion  for  judging  thought 
was  no  dogma,  but  conformity  to  universal  law  as  revealed 
by  phenomena. 

Lubin  was  never  a  polished  but  often  a  very  forcible 
writer,  setting  his  mark  indelibly  on  all  he  wrote  in  pointed 
metaphor  and  telling,  homely  illustration.  But  oppressed 
by  a  feeling  that  he  lacked  what  he  used  to  call  the  "writer's 
tool  chest",  and  extremely  anxious  that  this  book  should  be 
easy,  pleasant  reading,  he  had  it  revised  and  largely  re- 
written by  a  literary  assistant.  The  result  is  a  curious 
volume,  full  of  ideas,  of  original  thoughts,  yet  with  a  warp 
of  commonplace  running  through  the  weft  of  expression 
of  a  strong  personality  with  something  worth  while  to  say 
and  saying  it  in  all  earnestness  and  singleness  of  mind. 

On  its  publication  in  1900,  it  was  widely  reviewed  and 
favorably  received,  yet  the  result  was  a  disappointment  to 
its  author.  His  deep  conviction  of  the  practical  importance 
on  the  subject  had  led  him  to  hope  that  fellow  workers 
would  arise,  debating  societies  be  formed,  chains  of  discussion 
in  newspaper,  pulpit  and  lecture  hall  result  in  united  effort, 
leading  to  a  dej&nite  program  of  work  in  the  field  of  social 
amelioration.  But  his  message  in  this  form  was  delivered 
to  an  unheeding  world ;  and  it  was  well.  He  was  destined 
for  a  more  fruitful  service. 

On  the  man  himself  an  interesting  psychologic  side  light 
is  afforded  by  a  series  of  letters  written  to  Miss  Rebecca 
Altman,  a  correspondent  with  whom  his  book  brought  him 
in  touch,  but  whom  he  never  met.  Like  ships  that  pass  in 
the  night  they  signaled  to  each  other  on  their  journey  through 
life;  then  went  their  several  ways;  indeed  the  corre- 
spondence itself  is  limited  to  the  dozen  letters  from  which 
I  am  privileged  to  quote : 

New  York,  June  28th,  1900. 
My  dear  Miss  Altman, 

Your  interesting  letter  of  28th  received.    No,  I  made  no 


"LET  THERE  BE  LIGHT"  165 

mistake,  the  letter  to  Rev.  Wm.  Wole  was  intended  for  you, 
and  seemingly  it  has  accomplished  its  purpose.  .  .  .  You,  and 
some  other  "daughters  in  Israel"  are  to  be  warmly  con- 
gratulated that  you  are  so  far  removed  from  the  present 
aims  and  aspirations  of  the  "sons",  and  some  considerable 
number  of  "daughters"  too,  who  can  only  be  at  home  in 
"shop",  on  "bargain",  or  on  "poker." 

I,  of  course,  deny  that  any  such  trash  are  "Chosen 
People",  or  "Israel";  they  are  simply  "rishes  "-makers,  par- 
venus, hook-nosed  Idumeans,  or  perhaps  mongrel  Egyptian- 
Persian-Roman-Greek-German-French-Spanish  mixtures. 

That  God  can  have  any  special  interest  in  such  pork- 
eating,  diamond-wearing  gentry  I  deny.  And  if  that  is 
"Israel",  then  let  me  be  Irish  or  Hawaiian.  But,  you  say, 
these  were  brought  low  by  persecution.  "Not  so,"  I  reply ; 
*'  persecution  elevates,  does  not  degrade.  The  mongrel  par- 
venu among  Israel  existed  as  really  so  in  the  days  of  Isaiah 
as  to-day."  .  .  . 

And  now  Miss  Rebecca  (and  I  prefer  that  name  to  a  simple 
R)  I  would  ask  that  you  read  the  book  over  again  and  we  will 
see  whether  you  will  not  come  nearer  the  view  and  the  as- 
pirations of  the  author.  We  will  see  if  you  cannot  after  all 
find  "  Jiddishkeit"  —  not  that  taught  by  Joseph  Caro  in  the 
Schulchan  Arach  of  Medieval  idolatrous  times  —  but  'that 
taught  by  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  and  Micah  —  (and  Jesus 
too  if  we  subtract  the  additions  of  paganism  and  heathen- 
ism). .  .  . 

And  that  is  the  mission  of  Israel;  to  speak  words  of 
fire  which  shall  consume  idolatry.  Not  Lessing's  "ring" 
parable;  for  Elijah,  Isaiah,  and  Moses  did  not  believe  in 
compromises  with  idolatry,  and  we  have  had  enough  of 
crawling  into  holes  conveniently  placed  for  us  to  crawl  into 
by  the  Goyim  during  the  past  nineteenth  century.  God, 
when  he  gave  us  free  America,  took  us  out  of  the  depths,  what 
for  ?  To  do  lucrative  pawnbroking,  to  furnish  "Beitzimers" 
with  bargains,  to  permit  our  men  to  play  pinocle  and  poker, 
and  our  women  to  wear  diamonds  ?  Far  better  than  this  is 
a  return  to  the  Ghetto,  to  the  Sabbath  lights,  the  "maz- 
zurah"  and  the  "tallith." 

No!    God  gave  us  freedom  in  order  that  we  might  be 


156  DAVID   LUBIN 

revenged  on  the  Goy.  "Vengeance  is  mine/'  saith  the  Lord  ; 
and  if  we  are  God's  Chosen  we  must  do  God's  work,  and 
execute  God's  vengeance  on  the  People.  And  what  shall 
that  revenge  be  ?  This,  we  shall  bless  them  that  cursed  us, 
and  we  shall  lift  up  them  that  pulled  us  down. 

And  in  this  blessing,  this  lifting  up  of  the  nations,  shall 
Israel  find  his  own  blessing  and  elevation. 

This,  my  dear  yoimg  lady,  while  it  is  not  the  theme  of 
the  "Schulchan  Arach",  is  the  theme  of  the  immortal  and 
inspired  prophets  of  Israel.  And  does  a  voice  speak  to  you 
saying,  "Go  forth  and  do  my  work."     Then  obey  it. 


July  4th,  1900. 

Your  valued  favor  of  2nd  received.  I  do  not  think 
that  your  sweeping  generalization  is  permissible  without 
qualification.  This  is  not  an  age  when  the  "real"  is  the 
ideal. 

The  greatest  thinkers  of  contemporary  time  have  de- 
voted their  highest  energies  in  proving  that  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  "real",  that  if  there  is  a  true  "real"  at  all,  it 
resides  in  the  ideal  (this  seems  like  an  Irish  bull). 

There  is,  it  is  true,  quite  a  body  of  people  in  this  country 
whose  sole  effort  is  a  hot  chase  after  what  they  call  the  "  real ", 
and  this  real  with  them  is,  in  the  end,  money  for  diamonds 
and  money  for  poker,  and  these  "real"  chasers  are  the  ones 
who  give  Prof.  Goldwin  Smith,  Herr  Ahlwart,  Stocker, 
and  Bebel  a  chance  to  "rip  up"  Judaism.  These  "real" 
chasers  cause  the  seaside  hotel  to  send  notices,  "no 
Hebrews."  .  .  . 

Last  summer  at  the  Catskills  while  I  was  writing  my  book, 
I  tried  to  converse  with  the  guests,  nearly  all  Jews.  They 
would  talk  "clodding",  "bargains'*,  even  local  "boledigs", 
but  when  I  brought  up  the  subject  of  the  ideal  they  began 
to  look  at  me  with  suspicion.  "He  talks  mishagga"  [in- 
sanely] I  overheard  one  animal  say.  But,  say  you,  "Is  it 
not  necessary  to  be  wide  awake  in  business?  How  is  one 
to  live  otherwise.'^"  Yes,  that  is  true,  but  business  is  only 
a  means,  only  what  a  boiler  is  to  a  machine  shop.  What  I 
object  to  is  not  business,  for  I  have  been  for  twenty-five 


"LET  THERE  BE  LIGHT"  157 

years  at  the  head  of  a  business  house  at  Sacramento,  and 
still  derive  my  principal  income  from  that  house,  and  yet 
I  had  time  for  reading. 

So  far  as  I  can  see,  a  large  part  of  our  Jewish  people  in 
the  United  States  think  that  by  eating  pork,  sporting 
diamonds,  and  playing  poker  they  are  worthy  of  the  love 
and  respect  of  the  American  people. 

And  is  this  Judaism  ?     Is  this  the  Mission  of  Israel  ? 

Of  course,  I  do  not  write  this  way  to  Prof.  Goldwin  Smith 
or  to  Herr  Bebel,  but  to  you,  a  young  daughter  in  Israel, 
I  write,  for  it  may  be  that  you  can  exert  influences  mightier 
than  you  give  yourself  credit  for.  .  .  . 

Spring  Lake,  N.  J.,  July  16,  1900. 

Your  valued  favor  July  10th  at  hand,  and  I  note  what 
you  say  about  the  crusade  which  I  spoke  of  in  my  last. 
You  point  out  the  difficulties  in  the  way,  and  forget  that 
the  glory  of  achievement  lies  in  overcoming  difficulties.  Do 
you  think  that  any  credit  is  due  for  convincing  those  whom 
it  is  not  necessary  to  convince  ? 

Take  any  great  master  in  achievement,  and  was  the  crown 
of  mastership  gained  with  that  ease  which  you  would  have 
evidenced  before  you  would  be  tempted  to  enter  the  field? 
Certainly  not.  Heroes  buckle  on  the  armour  and  unsheath 
the  sword  and  fight  valiantly.  Those  who  are  too  much 
attached  to  ease  stay  at  home  and  are  no  heroes ;  they  are 
part  and  parcel  of  the  conventional  and  commonplace 
p>eople.  If  you  have  a  longing  for  achievement,  are  of 
heroic  blood,  have  the  divine  impulse  and  sufficient  force, 
you  can  surely  achieve.  And  what  an  achievement !  for, 
mark  you,  they  who  achieve  in  the  sphere  of  Religion, 
achieve  for  ever. 

And  the  Jew,  as  I  believe,  has  his  greatest  achievement 
before  him,  not  behind  him.  Great  as  was  his  past,  his 
future  is  to  be  still  greater  and  grander.  He  has  to  eman- 
cipate, not  himself  alone,  but  the  whole  world. 

And  shall  not  the  Jewess  enter  this  God  blessed  task? 
And  if  so  why  not  you  f    Can  you  tell  me  ?  .  .  . 


158  DAVID  LUBIN 

Spring  Lake,  N.  J.,  Aug.  2nd. 

...  I  am  about  to  block  out  a  new  book,  and  were  you 
in  New  York  I  would  deem  it  a  fortunate  event  to  consult 
you.  During  my  work  on  "Let  There  Be  Light"  I  was 
assisted  by  Miss  May  Rhone,  daughter  of  Col.  Rhone, 
Master  of  the  Pennsylvania  State  Grange.  Miss  Rhone, 
being  an  orthodox  Christian,  could  hardly  be  expected  to 
sympathize  with  my  theme. 

As  it  is,  I  may  from  time  to  time  send  you  any  of  the  more 
important  sketches. 

Spring  Lake,  N.  J.,  Aug.  3. 

In  reading  over  your  letter  again  to-day  I  am  reminded 
of  a  story.  A  Scotch  land-owner  in  making  the  rounds  of 
his  estate  chanced  upon  one  of  his  tenants,  a  woman  who 
was  bleaching  flax.  "Were  you  to  church  last  Sunday?" 
asked  the  man.  "Yes,  and  I  enjoyed  the  sermon  very 
much."  "What  was  the  text?"  "I  do  not  know."  "What 
did  the  Minister  say  that  impressed  you?"  "I  cannot 
remember."  "Of  what  value  to  you  then  is  your  church- 
going?"  "Well,"  she  replied,  pointing  to  the  flax  on  the 
ground,  "I  put  water  on  this  flax  exposed  to  the  sun,  and  I 
keep  on  doing  so  until  the  flax  is  bleached.  I  cannot  tell  you 
just  how  much  each  drop  bleaches,  but  I  know  if  I  keep  on 
I  have  bleached  flax.  So  with  the  sermon.  I  cannot  tell 
just  how  the  parts  of  sermons  or  any  sermon  makes  me 
better;  all  I  know  is  that  they  make  me  better." 

This,  I  think,  answers  your  query  as  to  why  the  few 
sages  have  not  been  able  to  transform  a  world  of  primitive 
minds.  The  fact  is  that  the  sages  have  done  this  very 
thing  and  are  doing  it  to-day. 

The  bleaching  is  so  gradual  as  to  seem  to  the  untutored 
mind  to  be  no  bleaching  at  all.  But  do  you  not  see  that  it 
is  going  on  all  the  time  ?  So  then  each  of  us  may  do  some- 
thing (and  in  fact  we  do)  towards  the  great  end.  .  .  . 

Sprmg  Lake,  N.  J.,  Aug.  11th,  1900. 

.  .  .  Permit  me  to  say  that  recently  I  received  a  photo- 
graph of  a  young  Jewess  who  seems  to  me  to  be  a  model  of 


"LET  THERE  BE  LIGHT"  159 

that  sweet  and  heroic  and  classic  type  which  I  love  to  de- 
nominate "Israella"  queen  of  "Isroael."  .  .  .  Why 
"Israella"?     Why  not  Judith ? 

Judith  is  tribal  as  Judah  is,  but  Israel  is  universal. 

Had  you  been  known  to  me  for  ever  so  many  years  I 
would  not  have  known  you  as  well  as  I  know  you  now. 

I  see  your  sweet  spirit  in  your  unselfishness,  but  please 
to  bear  in  mind  that  in  the  Republic  of  letters  the  true 
subjects  are  of  that  order.  So  what  are  "terms",  these 
indexes  of  grocery  men  and  butchers,  to  those  who  in 
spirit  think  of  their  fellow  craftsmen  as  of  their  own  right 
hand? 

Thank  God  I  have  some  means  for  my  own.  And  who 
are  my  own  ?  And  in  this  I  am  a  Galilean,  a  Nazarene,  aye, 
the  Chief  est  of  them,  who  said,  in  substance,  "Who  is  my 
father  or  my  mother  or  my  brother  or  sister  or  my  friend  ?  " 
Who  but  those  who  were  with  him  in  spirit.  Even  so,  my 
dear  daughter,  are  you  very  near  me.  .  .  . 

Do  you  know  Edwin  Markham?  He  wrote  the  poem 
"The  Man  with  the  Hoe."  He  was  here  for  one  week  and 
we  went  over  the  field,  and  thank  God  the  Goy  was  con- 
verted, and  his  first  next  poem  will  be  "The  Shofar."  And 
in  it  will  be  found  the  dream  of  philosophical  Anarchism, 
logical  Socialism,  spiritual  Christianism,  and  ameliorating 
Israelitism.  You  are  to  meet  this  poet  and  inspire  him  in 
his  work.  You  are  to  help  materialize  the  theme  of  the  new 
book  of  which  there  are  already  some  sketches.  Oh,  there 
is  ever  so  much  work  to  do,  and  the  work  is  so  grand  and 
heroic  and  sweet,  but  who  understands  its  high  value  ? 

And  now  I  will  close  by  saying  that  I  know  you  now,  you, 
your  soul,  your  heart,  your  mind,  and  you  are  no  longer 
stranger.    So  come  to  us. 

Spring  Lake,  Aug.  20th,  1900. 

Your  esteemed  favor  of  31st  at  hand,  and  Mrs.  Lubin  and 
I  regret  that  you  did  not  come. 

However  we  shall  be  glad  to  entertain  you  at  our  residence 
in  New  York  whenever  you  come  to  that  city  and  shall  try 
to  make  your  stay  as  pleasant  as  possible. 


160  DAVID  LUBIN 

I  have  not  yet  started  on  my  new  book  and  may  not  do 
so  until  the  beginning  of  winter.  Next  week  I  am  to  meet 
Professor  Markham  in  New  York,  when  we  are  to  go  over 
an  outline  for  his  next  poem. 

At  some  future  time  I  may  give  you  an  impression  of 
the  photograph ;  sufficient  at  this  time  to  say  that  I  judge 
its  owner  possessed  of  considerable  power  which  is  at  present 
dormant  and  likely  to  remain  so  unless  conditions  of  de- 
velopment arise. 

Spring  Lake,  Aug.  29th,  1900. 

Your  interesting  letter  of  28th  just  to  hand  as  I  was  about 
to  begin  my  morning's  correspondence,  so  I  will  start  by 
answering  you.  First  of  all,  yom*  praise,  while  appreciated, 
is  not  altogether  deserved  when  judged  by  all  criticism  at 
hand,  for  a  clipping  to  hand  this  morning  from  an  Episcopal 
paper  of  Philadelphia  tells  me  that  I  have  "written  a  bad 
book"  and  hopes  that  but  "few  should  read  it."  Again, 
even  Jesus  when  called  "good"  turned  to  the  speaker  saying, 
"Why  callest  thou  me  good?  No  one  is  good  but  God." 
And  know,  my  dear  friend,  that  I  have  as  hard  a  struggle  to 
adhere  to  the  Path  as  others,  and,  my  young  sister-confessor, 
let  me  tell  you  that  I  do  not  always  come  out  the  victor  in 
the  struggles.  Hence  you  see  that  I,  too,  am  common 
clay. 

But  I  feel  that  I  could  be  so  much  stronger  and  happier 
were  I  in  a  sympathetic  atmosphere.  Not  one  soul  sur- 
rounds me  who  can  approximately  sympathise  with  my  work 
and  my  ideals.  So  much  is  this  the  case  that  I  am  obliged 
out  of  deference  to  environment  to  hide  my  nature  by  at 
least  appearing  as  a  normal  store-keeper  and  "man  of  the 
world."  So  last  week  I  tried  to  learn  the  game  of  "  progressive 
euchre"  but  I  failed  utterly,  and  fell  accordingly  in  the  esti- 
mation of  present  environment.  I  feel,  however,  that  some 
day,  perhaps  years  after  I  am  gathered  with  my  fathers,  I 
may  be  more  seriously  considered. 

But  what  nonsense !  What  can  it  matter  how  I  am  con- 
sidered? What  egoism,  what  rare  impudence,  the  wish  to 
be  considered  good  and  great  when  I  know  and  feel  that  I  am 
neither  good  nor  great !  And  yet  I  certainly  crave  for  some- 
thing; but  so  do  children.  .  .  . 


"LET  THERE  BE  LIGHT'*  161 

Spring  Lake,  Aug.  3Cth,  1900. 

Having  a  few  moments'  leisure  I  will  make  clear  that 
part  of  my  former  letter  about  my  contemplated  book. 
When  I  wrote  you  that  I  had  parts  of  the  book  already 
written  I  meant  by  that  the  following : 

I  originally  wrote  "Let  There  Be  Light"  in  story  form, 
but  I  was  strongly  advised  to  drop  the  story  form  and  write 
in  pure  essay  form.  This  I  did  not  consent  to,  and  seeing 
the  force  of  the  opposing  argument  I  compromised  by  toning 
down  the  story  to  a  mere  thread.  You  therefore  see  that 
I  have,  say,  a  dozen  sketches,  which,  with  modifications, 
can  be  availed  of  for  the  new  book. 

This  new  book  I  have  not  framed  yet,  hoping  to  do  so 
in  the  near  future.  But  right  here  there  is  a  sense  of  con- 
fusion in  my  mind;  for  I  find  two  ideas  running  counter. 
One,  the  idea  of  a  story  :  the  other  a  book,  in  essay  form,  on 
the  theme  "Righteousness",  in  which  I  would  show  that  the 
Prophets  meant  by  that  term  "amelioration"  and  not 
piousness;  whereas  Christianity  reduces  all  to  "salvation", 
which  is  to  be  had  through  belief  in  Christ.  And  now  do 
you  understand  ? 

Were  you  here  we  could  then  go  over  the  merits  of  the 
story  and  the  essay.  If  the  "story"  is  to  be  chosen,  I 
would  then  be  glad  to  visit  the  "East  Side"  of  New  York 
for  some  local  detail.  .  .  . 

You  seem  to  have  some  doubt  as  to  my  bearing  with  re- 
gard to  my  fealty  to  the  cause  of  Israel.  You  can  safely 
put  aside  all  doubt.  Israel  shall  rise  from  his  dung-hill 
and  ascend  the  throne  and  reign  sole  sovereign  over  the 
whole  world.  "Oh,  what  nonsense!"  say  the  so-called 
practical  men,  "why,  there  is  no  sign  that  they  will  ever 
even  reign  over  a  village,  let  alone  the  world  !" 

Notwithstanding,  however,  I  say  that  he  will  reign  over 
the  whole  world.  Yes,  and  he  even  reigns  to-day ;  for  do 
you  not  see  clearly  that  it  is  not  Emperor,  Czar,  King  or 
Queen  who  rule,  but  Isaiah,  Moses,  Jeremiah,  Micah,  and 
Jesus  who  rule.  This  rule  it  is  which  is  to  be  made  clearer, 
brighter  and  surer,  and  by  and  through  the  "Champion  of 
God",  which  is  the  English  for  the  Hebrew  "Isroael." 


162  DAVID  LUBIN 

Spring  Lake,  N.  J.,  Sept.  3. 

My  dear  Pupil : 

Your  letter  of  Sept.  1st  just  received,  and  as  you  close  by 
saying  "If  time  permits,  answer  soon",  and  as  time  does 
"permit"  I  comply  now,  but  do  not  promise  to  be  as  prompt 
when  I  am  in  New  York  (which  will  be  shortly)  as  there 
my  time  will  be  taken  up  with  hard  study  and  work.  .  .  . 

From  the  tenor  of  this  letter  and  from  some  portions  of 
the  former  letters  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  I  can  discern 
what  is  going  on  in  your  heart.  You  seem  to  possess  the 
germs  of  an  idealist's  soul  with  strong  realist  tendencies. 
And  this  is  true  to  the  higher  Jewish  nature,  the  rare  ex- 
ception to  which  was  the  great  Nazarene.  "Tachles"^ — ■ 
purpose,  profit  —  is  the  normal  Jewish  characteristic,  and 
you,  you  want,  in  sight,  the  love  of  humanity  even  before 
you  have  a  right  to  demand  it.  And  so  do  I;  hence  we 
are  both  Jewish ;  high  relatively,  but  low  absolutely.  The 
high  absolutely  has  the  crown  of  thorns  driven  deep  into 
the  brow  and  the  spirit  is,  nevertheless,  serene. 

You  and  I  prate  of  sympathy  and  long  for  it;  but  the 
true  God-child  suffers  all  and  singular  tortures  and  is  serene 
in  spirit.  I  have  toiled  some,  some  years  before  you  heard 
of  me,  in  the  work,  and  I  have  lived  in  oh,  so  many  dis- 
appointments, so  many  thorns  and  wounds,  and  did  I  live 
them  serene  in  spirit .?  No ;  as  my  letters  to  you  will  testify. 
And  now,  dear  Sister,  you  come,  you  who  have  not  yet  done 
anything,  and  you,  too,  cry  "tachles";  where  is  my  profit, 
where  is  the  human  sympathy  ?  Go  to !  You  are  no 
prophetess  and  I  am  no  prophet.  Or  we  would  neither  of 
us  look  for  reward  ! 

Go  you  now  at  once  to  "small  talk";  talk  cards,  talk 
shop,  talk  parties,  talk  village  rot,  but  enter  not,  as  I  have 
done,  in  the  sacred  precincts  of  God's  work  for  pay. 

Do  you  want  the  pay?  Can  you  stand  it  ?  Do  you  want  con- 
tempt, falsehood,  injury,  disappointment  and  hatred  "^  Then 
serve  God  as  a  God-child  should  and  your  spirit  will  be  serene. 

Do  you  want  applause,  human  sympathy  and  the  fewest 
disappointments  ?  Then  be  as  realistic  as  a  butcher,  prac- 
tical as  a  plumber,  and  crafty  as  an  everyday  Jew,  and  you 
will  have  all  these. 


"LET  THERE  BE  LIGHT"  163 

I  advise  you,  with  all  the  earnestness  of  a  well-wisher,  to 
abandon  your  idealism  for  ever;  banish  it  as  a  pestiferous 
plant  from  the  garden  of  your  heart ;  become  practical  and 
real  and  you  will  be  what  the  world  calls  happy. 

Dare  to  go  into  the  ideal  world  and  unless  you  are  armed 
for  the  combat  you  sink  under  the  first  few  blows.  And  now, 
if  after  all  I  have  said  you,  knowing  yourself,  are  still  in- 
clined to  be  a  God-child,  I  would  be  justified  in  taking  up 
your  clauses  (not  any  longer  as  a  harsh  critic  but  as  loving 
brother  and  willing  disciple).  You  say  that :  **  talk  about  a 
united  brotherhood,  a  common  humanity,  is  a  phantastic 
vision ;  the  real  man's  attitude  to  his  brother  is  that  of  en- 
mity." You  do  God  a  great  injustice  in  the  above  sentence, 
not  intentionally  but  unwittingly,  as  you  shall  see. 

There  is  a  God  or  there  is  not.  If  not,  there  is  no  purpose, 
end,  or  aim  in  whatever  we  do  or  in  whatever  is  done  in  the 
universe.  But  if  there  is  —  (and  I  am  of  the  firm  opinion 
that  I  am  more  sure  of  God's  absolute  existence  than  I  am 
of  my  own),  then  we  must  admit  that  objects  are  but  mani- 
festations of  His  will.  Now  this  will  is  symbolized  in  types, 
and  the  highest  type  of  man  is  the  "real  man."  Now  the 
"real"  man  is  God's  ideal  man ;  His  son.  His  child.  And  is 
this  "real"  man's  attitude  to  his  brother  one  of  "enmity"? 
On  the  very  contrary ;  it  is  that  of  amity.  Amity  in  spite 
of  the  crown  of  thorns,  in  spite  of  hate  and  torments. 
When  the  human  soul  is  so  great  as  to  prefer  these  thorns 
and  torments  for  the  sake  of  a  united  brotherhood,  then  is 
that  soul  God's  child,  the  champion  of  God,  Israel.  Do 
you  now  understand  ? 

And  these  God's-children,  do  not  the  butchers,  the  plumb- 
ers, the  "practical "  people,  worship  them  as  they  worship  God  ? 

And  now,  sweet  sister,  I  had  another  dream,  and  I  am 
again  in  the  practical  work  of  disappointment.  I  dreamt 
that  one  of  Israel's  daughters  was  to  come,  and  like  Ben 
Hur  of  old,  hold  up  the  hand  of  Moses  during  the  time  of 
the  battle.  But  God  wills  it  otherwise.  I  must  alone  take 
up  the  cross  and  bear  it,  and,  oh,  how  hard  the  task.  For 
my  path  is  in  the  gloom  of  the  forest,  and  the  hope  of  sun- 
shine inspired  me  to  call  you. 


164  DAVID  LUBIN 

But  now  I  would  rather  you  would  not  come. 

.  .  .  Stay  where  you  are  and  banish  every  vestige  of 
desire  for  a  field  so  fraught  with  peril  and  sorrow,  and  choose 
that  easier,  happier,  and  more  profitable  road  incidental  to 
the  life  of  an  ordinary  woman.  This  is  the  path  which  will 
give  you  least  physical  pain  and  which  will  come  nearer 
fulfilling  the  desires  of  your  parents.  May  God  bless  and 
protect  you.     Farewell. 

So,  dreaming  dreams  and  awakening  to  realities,  Lubin 
worked  his  way  manfully  along  the  path  he  had  set  him- 
self. "What  right  have  I  to  complain?"  I  have  often 
heard  him  say,  when  failure  or  disappointment  rewarded 
his  efforts.  "The  good  Lord  made  no  bargain  with  me.  I 
was  not  compelled  to  take  up  this  work;  no  one  asked  me 
to  do  it."  And  he  was  invincibly  strong  in  this  :  when  he 
saw  that  he  had  failed  he  would  never  waste  time  quarreling 
with  a  vicious  or  stupid  world ;  never  lay  the  blame  on  his 
environment.  He  would  come  rather  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  fault  was  his,  that  he  had  not  used  the  right  means 
to  ends.  "The  world  demands  service,  and  pays  cash  for 
real  service,  and  is  quite  anxious  to  be  served,"  he  wrote  to 
his  son;  "and  the  man  who  has  spurious  ideas  for  sale 
must  be  prepared  to  receive  the  same  treatment  as  is  given 
to  the  man  with  spurious  merchandise." 

Of  course  the  latter  part  of  the  remark  is  not  applicable 
to  the  ideas  Lubin  set  forth  in  his  book ;  he  was  convinced 
that  those  ideas  were  sterling  gold  which  would  stand  the 
acid  test.  But  as  his  purpose  was  not  to  add  one  more  book 
to  the  many  more  powerful  than  his  own  in  which  such  ab- 
stract truths  were  set  forth,  but  to  translate  them  from  the 
realm  of  the  abstract  to  that  of  the  concrete,  he  saw  that  he 
must  approach  the  task  from  an  angle  different  from  those 
hitherto  attempted. 

This  was  what  he  did  when,  in  the  autumn  of  1904,  he 
set  out  for  Europe. 


CHAPTER  X 

A   MISSIONARY   IN   ROME 

On  the  fourth  of  October,  1904,  David  Lubin  reached 
Rome. 

He  had  left  New  York  toward  the  end  of  August,  after  a 
long  period  of  bad  bronchial  trouble  which  he  attributed  to 
"nervous  strain"  and  his  wife  to  the  fact  that  he  had  passed 
much  of  his  time  in  a  damp  cellar  experimenting  with  the 
soil  pulverizer  of  his  invention.  Probably  there  was  some 
truth  in  both  explanations. 

Doctor  Shelby,  the  physician  who  attended  him  in  New 
York,  remembers  Lubin  as  a  very  odd  patient  who  claimed 
he  had  no  leisure  to  waste  on  illness  as  he  had  a  great  work 
to  perform  for  which  he  must  go  to  Europe.  He  urged  the 
doctor  to  hurry  up  the  treatment  to  meet  these  exigencies. 
He  was  advised  to  pass  the  winter  in  Egypt,  and  set  off, 
anything  but  cured,  suffering  from  a  most  distressing  cough 
which  gave  him  little  rest  by  day  or  night,  complicated  by 
heart  trouble.  This  made  the  task  of  mounting  a  few  steps 
or  walking  fifty  yards  a  physical  strain  of  the  severest  kind. 
Long  years  of  incessant  work,  severe  mental  strain,  and 
spiritual  and  emotional  stress  had  told  on  an  unusually 
robust  constitution,  and  it  was  a  man  in  broken  health  who 
reached  the  Italian  capital.  But  the  shattered  physique 
was  domineered  by  an  iron  will,  determined  that  the  body 
should  be  servant  and  not  master. 

For  twenty  years  David  Lubin  had  striven  to  achieve  in 
the  path  of  reform;  for  twenty  years  he  had  striven  to 
materialize  through  concrete  action  in  the  field  of  agriculture 
the  aspirations  instilled  into  him  as  a  boy  by  his  mother, 
aspirations  which  had  recurred  to  his  mind  and  sunk  deeply 


166  DAVID  LUBIN 

into  his  soul  in  the  deserts  of  Arizona,  taking  shape  and 
gaining  definite  expression  during  his  travels  in  the  Holy 
Land. 

He  had  so  far  worked  from  the  sectional,  then  from  the 
national  standpoint,  and  from  the  bottom  upwards.  Now  he 
would  enter  the  international  field  and  would  start  from  the 
top.  His  endeavor  would  be  to  convert  a  ruler  to  his  point 
of  view. 

The  idea  he  now  set  out  to  realize  was  that  first  roughly 
outlined  in  his  speech  in  Budapest  in  1896.  Agriculture 
could  only  hold  its  own  through  international  action,  and 
to  make  possible  such  international  action  the  farmers  of 
the  world  must  be  able  to  secure  through  a  World  Chamber 
of  Agriculture  that  knowledge  of  world  conditions  which 
they  required  in  order  to  hold  their  own  in  the  economic 
arena.  But  if  they  were  still,  in  most  cases,  too  individual- 
istic to  combine  for  effective  national  action,  it  was  surely 
preposterous  to  expect  such  heterogeneous  elements  as  the 
American  farmer,  the  European  peasant,  the  Russian  mou- 
jik,  the  Egyptian  fellahin,  and  the  inarticulate  agricultural 
masses  of  Asia  and  South  America  to  create  anything  com- 
parable to  the  international  economic  organizations  at  the 
service  of  commerce  and  finance.  If  this  was  to  be  done 
the  initiative  must  come  from  above. 

Before  setting  out  to  seek  in  Europe  for  the  initiator, 
Lubin  had  not  neglected  to  place  his  ideas,  still  in  a  tentative 
stage,  before  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture.  At  Washington 
he  had  encountered  nothing  but  hostility.  His  hard-fought 
fight  for  equity  in  protection  had  not  made  him  popular  with 
orthodox  Republicans,  and  twenty  years  ago  the  idea  of 
international  action  was  looked  upon  as  a  Utopian  notion, 
unworthy  of  practical  politicians.  Lubin  was  regarded  as  a 
crank,  told  that  there  was  nothing  international  in  agri- 
culture, that  however  much  the  United  States  might  have 
to  teach  they  certainly  had  nothing  to  learn,  and  that  they 
wished  to  have  as  little  to  do  as  possible  with  the  "pauper 
countries"  of  Europe.     Then  Lubin  approached  the  Grange. 


A  MISSIONARY  IN  ROME  167 

"No  other  great  industry  in  the  country  stands  to-day  in 
as  defenseless  a  position  as  does  the  industry  of  agriculture. 
It  stands  defenseless  against  the  action  of  a  discriminative 
protective  tariff;  ...  it  stands  defenseless  in  shaping  the 
price  for  agricultural  staples;  it  stands  defenseless  against 
the  action  of  innumerable  trusts,"  he  said  in  the  first  of  a 
series  of  articles  addressed  to  that  body,  which  he  wrote 
before  leaving  for  Europe.  He  urged  the  Patrons  of  Hus- 
bandry to  live  up  to  their  claim  to  represent  American 
agriculture  in  its  effort  to  secure  economic  betterment.  He 
pointed  out  what  Europe  had  done  through  the  cooperative 
credit  movement  to  improve  the  status  of  agriculture,  and 
suggested  that  they  should  take  the  initiative  in  forming  a 
traveling  committee  to  take  up  this  and  other  cognate 
studies.  His  article  was  read  by  many  with  interest  and 
aroused  a  good  deal  of  comment,  but  he  could  see  that 
nothing  practical  would  come  of  it. 

His  mind  was  now  made  up.  He  would  set  out  and  find 
the  Chief  Executive  of  a  nation,  —  Emperor,  King,  or 
President  as  the  case  might  be.  He  would  place  before  him 
the  idea.  He  would  show  the  need  of  strengthening  the 
conservative  countryman  as  a  bulwark  against  the  revolu- 
tionary progressive  forces  of  Finance,  Commerce  and  Labor ; 
he  would  show  the  need  of  equity  in  the  price  formation 
of  the  staples  as  the  basis  for  securing  equity  in  economic 
relations;  he  would  show  that  the  Ruler  who  would  call 
the  peoples  of  the  world  to  act  along  these  lines  would  be 
entitled  to  an  enduring  place  in  history.  He  felt  sure  of 
success  if  he  could  only  place  his  premise  clearly  before  the 
right  man,  and  with  the  courage  of  simplicity  he  set  out  to 
find  the  statesman  of  vision  and  power  who  would  material- 
ize this  dream. 

Lubin's  first  stopping  place  was  in  London,  but  there 
he  seems  to  have  made  but  little  impression.  He  tried  his 
luck  in  France,  and  met  the  few  people  of  importance  in 
the  world  of  politics  or  economics  to  be  found  in  Paris  in 
September.    He  was  told  to  wait,  but  counsels  of  patience 


168  DAVID   LUBIN 

were  never  palatable  to  him.  He  tried  what  he  could  do 
with  those  he  saw,  among  whom  was  M.  Yves  Guyot,  the 
well-known  economist.  But  he  was  unfortunate  in  his 
interpreter.  A  Cook's  guide  is  hardly  the  person  one  would 
select  to  explain  such  a  proposition  as  Lubin's  to  an  econo- 
mist of  note.  Mr.  Lubin  always  suspected  that  guide  of 
being  a  radical  of  sorts ;  he  said  he  got  into  a  debate  with 
Yves  Guyot,  of  which  he  (Lubin)  understood  nothing  beyond 
the  fact  that  the  French  professor  got  very  angry ;  anyhow, 
his  effort  came  to  naught.  He  tried  to  interest  the  Ameri- 
can Chamber  of  Commerce,  but  to  no  purpose.  Nothing 
daunted,  he  packed  his  grip  and  set  out  again ;  his  next 
stopping  place  was  Rome. 

The  fascination  of  a  great  name,  the  imminence  of  a 
mighty  past,  the  seal  of  universality  which  the  Roman 
Empire  and  the  Catholic  Church  have  set  on  the  Eternal 
City,  made  it  singularly  auspicious  for  his  purpose.  He 
was  determined  that  here  he  would  not  rest  until  he  got  at 
the  King  himself. 

To  the  average  American  the  idea  of  bringing  such  a  pro- 
posal as  Lubin  had  in  mind  to  Italy,  of  all  places  in  the  world, 
seems  incongruous.  Italy  is  thought  of  as  the  country  of 
art,  of  poetry,  of  music ;  or  as  a  poverty-stricken  land  whence 
come  unlettered  laborers  to  perform  the  hard  manual  work 
of  the  world.  Few  realize  what  an  important  factor  she 
has  been  and  still  is  in  modern  thought  and  development 
along  scientific,  economic  and  sociological  lines.  Yet  it  was 
from  Italy  that  trade  and  banking  and  industry  first  spread 
to  the  rest  of  Europe ;  if  the  names  of  Dante  and  Michel- 
angelo and  Verdi  are  famous,  so  are  those  of  Galileo  and 
Galvani,  Volta  and  Marconi;  and  of  late  years  Italian 
writers  have  produced  many  more  notable  works  on  econom- 
ics and  sociology  than  in  the  realm  of  fiction.  The  imagi- 
nation of  the  Italian  enables  him  to  dream  dreams;  his 
traditions  enable  him  to  think  internationally.  More- 
over, the  Italian  and  the  American  temperaments  have  a 
notable   point    of    contact,  —  both    are    characterized    by 


A  MISSIONARY  IN  ROME  169 

practical  idealism.  Pick  up  the  works  of  modem  Italians 
on  such  subjects  as  hydraulics,  land  reclamation,  engineer- 
ing, agriculture,  and  while  severely  scientific  they  yet  breathe 
the  spirit  of  romance.  Not  only  is  it  financially  profitable 
but  it  is  great  and  wonderful  to  bend  the  forces  of  nature 
to  the  service  of  man,  to  convert  deserts  into  smiling  corn- 
fields and  orchards,  to  see  the  feeble  powers  of  puny  indi- 
viduals multiplied  in  geometric  ratio  by  cooperation  and 
combination,  to  see  order  evolve  out  of  chaos.  Undoubt- 
edly the  imaginative  and  poetic  faculty  has  inspired  Ameri- 
can business  enterprise  no  less  than  a  desire  for  returns  in 
dollars  and  cents. 

But  while  the  marvelous  opportunities  of  a  new  land  give 
the  American  confidence  and  optimism,  the  Italian  staggers 
under  the  weight  of  his  great  past.  Yet  that  same  past 
makes  him  ambitious  for  the  future;  lack  of  opportunity 
has  made  him  frequently  skeptical  and  pessimistic,  but  the 
divine  fire  is  there,  beneath  the  ashes,  ready  to  flame  up 
if  fanned  ever  so  little  by  a  favoring  breeze.  The  Italian 
has  none  of  the  stolid  conservatism  of  the  English,  or  the 
traditionalism  of  the  French.  The  fact  that  an  idea  is  new 
is  no  reason  in  his  mind  for  it  to  be  bad.  Indeed,  modern 
life  is  everywhere  grafted  on  Italy's  still  living  past.  Her 
medieval  towns  and  villages  are  lit  with  electric  light; 
they  use  the  telephone  and  electric  street  car.  Italy  thinks 
dynamically. 

Such  a  people  is  not  averse  to  new  ideas,  and  as  the  Italian 
rarely  suffers  from  "swollen  head",  he  is  quite  willing  to 
take  them  from  a  stranger  if  they  strike  him  as  having  merit. 
In  fact,  no  people  more  fully  and  more  generously  acts  on 
the  assumption  that  in  the  world  of  thought  there  are  no 
frontiers. 

Thus  it  was  no  mere  chance,  but  a  rare  intuition  which 
led  David  Lubin  to  Rome. 

He  had  not  been  in  the  city  an  hour  before  he  started  work 
by  a  search  for  an  interpreter,  and  it  was  in  that  capacity  I 
met  him,  and  took  down  from  dictg,tion  a  letter  to  the  editor 


170  DAVID  LUBIN 

of  the  American  Agriculturist  of  New  York.  I  quote  from  it, 
for  not  only  does  it  show  what  he  did  in  France,  but  sets 
forth  his  point  of  view  in  the  way  in  which  he  placed  it 
before  the  leaders  to  whom  he  addressed  himself  in  Italy : 

Hotel  Bristol,  Rome,  Italy 
Oct.  6,  1904. 

This  letter  contains  observations  I  made  while  in  France ; 
the  next  will  deal  with  conditions  as  I  find  them  in  Italy.  .  .  . 

While  reports  and  interviews  indicate  a  notable  divergency 
of  opinions  and  conclusions,  nevertheless  they  all  agree 
on  one  point,  i.e.  that  an  agricultural  question  exists  in 
France. 

French  thinkers  all  agree  in  saying  that  this  question 
must  be  solved,  but  no  one  seems  to  know  just  how  to  solve 
it. 

The  concentration  of  Capital  and  Energy,  so  general  in 
the  United  States,  is  beginning  to  make  itself  felt  in  the  Old 
World,  and  in  this  new  factor,  this  new  phenomenon,  the 
European  thinkers  note  a  serious  danger  for  the  independent 
landowning  farmer. 

Finance,  Commerce,  Manufactures,  Labor,  each  of  these 
forms  a  distinct  group,  closely  united,  guided  and  directed 
by  Manufacturers'  Councils,  by  Chambers  of  Commerce,  by 
Federations. 

This  concentration,  this  conservation  of  Capital  and 
Energy,  this  new  Power,  has  but  one  aim.  Advantage.  And 
where  can  this  organized  Power  gain  Advantage  more  readily 
than  by  exploiting  unorganized  Agriculture  ? 

It  is  not  difficult  for  the  Organized  to  take  advantage  of 
the  Unorganized.  This  is  so  evident  that  it  is  accepted 
as  a  law,  a  law  well  understood  by  the  Organized  but  only 
dimly  guessed  at  by  the  Unorganized. 

And  this  law  is  beginning  to  be  generally  understood  in 
Europe.  A  great  number  of  independent  agricultural  asso- 
ciations exist  in  France,  many  of  which  are  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  loans  through  Government  aid  at  a  nominal  rate 
of  interest. 

But  all  this  does  not  give  real  strength ;  the  heterogeneous 
agricultural  associations  of  France,  numerous  as  they  are, 


A  MISSIONARY  IN  ROME  171 

cannot  be  compared  to  the  compact  and  united  forces  of 
Capital  and  Energy  struggling  for  Advantage.  The  land- 
owning farmers  of  France  begin  to  understand  this,  and  they 
have  asked  their  House  of  Deputies  for  a  law  providing  for  a 
National  Advisory  Council  for  Agriculture.  This  Council 
should  be  the  guiding  power  behind  the  several  independent 
agricultural  associations,  and  should  place  the  industry  of 
agriculture  in  France  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  the  con- 
centrated forces  of  Capital  and  Energy. 

This  bill  has  been  introduced  several  times  but  so  far  has 
failed  of  acceptance.  .  .  . 

The  reasons  given  for  its  rejection  are  the  following : 

1.  It  would  endanger  the  Republic  by  aflFording  the  Socialists 
the  means  of  getting  at  the  farmers,  through  the  proposed 
National  Advisory  Council. 

2.  The  united  forces  of  Agriculture  would  incline  toward  the 
restoration  of  the  Monarchy. 

3.  The  Church  would  make  use  of  unified  Agriculture  to  the 
injury  of  the  Republic. 

To  all  of  which  the  landowning  farmers  of  France  reply : 
"Our  wishes  are  rejected,  not  so  much  because  it  is  feared 
that  we  shall  become  Socialists,  or  Monarchists,  or  tools  of 
the  Church.  We  must  remain  as  we  are,  because  such  is 
the  will  of  the  exploiters.  Otherwise  how  could  we  be  ex- 
ploited?" 

Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  the  efforts  of  the  French 
landowning  farmers  it  is  evident  that,  in  substance,  they  are 
in  the  right.  The  time  has  come  when  it  is  essential  that 
they  unite  their  scattered  forces,  and  they  can  only  do  this 
through  a  National  Advisory  Council.  Nor  is  this  all : 
the  time  is  here  when  each  nation  should  have  its  National 
Advisory  Council,  and  at  the  head  of  these  National  Coun- 
cils there  should  be  an  International  Agricultural  Advisory 
Council.  Thus  organized,  the  farmers  of  the  world  would 
be  able  to  hold  their  own  against  local,  national  and  inter- 
national exploiters. 

But  if  it  is  impossible  for  the  French  farmers  to  imite 
in  a  central  federation,  how  would  it  be  possible  for  the 
farmers  of  other  countries  to  do  so  ? 


172  DAVID  LUBIN 

* 

If  the  French  farmers  cannot,  at  present,  unite  under 
the  auspices  of  their  Government,  could  they  not  unite  in  a 
voluntary  association  ?  And  could  not  this  be  done  by  the 
farmers  of  any  other  nationality  ? 

At  fixed  dates,  bodies  known  as  "International  Agricul- 
tural Congresses"  meet.  Do  I  refer  to  such  meetings  as 
those  ?  No ;  I  do  not  mean  those ;  I  mean  National  Cham- 
bers and  an  International  Chamber  of  Agriculture,  and  not 
a  temporary  convention  before  which  delegates  make  set 
speeches  and  then  adjourn. 

But  why  such  national  and  international  institutions  for 
Agriculture  more  than  for  Finance,  for  Commerce,  for  Manu- 
factures and  for  Labor  ? 

Not  "  more  "  than  for  them,  but  equally  with  them.  There 
are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Trade  Committees,  Chambers 
of  Commerce,  Labor  Exchanges,  Federations,  etc.,  both 
national  and  international.     Are  they  of  value  ? 

Most  certainly  they  are.  They  are  the  directing  eye  and 
ear  and  brain  of  Finance,  of  Commerce,  of  Manufactures, 
and  of  Labor.  And  if  these  exist  in  the  interest  of  those  who 
live  in  the  crowded  cities,  how  much  greater  the  need  of  the 
people  who  live  in  isolation  on  the  farms  ? 

But  what  difference  can  it  make  to  the  nation  as  such 
whether  national  wealth  belongs  to  one  group  of  citizens 
rather  than  to  another  so  long  as  the  wealth  exists  ? 

It  makes  this  difference  so  far  as  the  farmers  of  a  free 
country  are  concerned.  Given  a  sufficient  number  of  in- 
dependent, landowning  farmers,  and  the  conservatism  of 
the  country  and  the  progress  of  the  city  is  insured.  Re- 
place these  independent,  landowning  farmers  by  renters 
and  you  have  converted  men  into  beasts  of  burden  in  the 
country,  and  free  men  into  slaves  in  the  city. 

This  is  the  most  obvious  law  of  human  history,  so  obvious 
that  those  who  ignore  it  may  well  be  called  "ignorant." 

Here,  where  I  am  writing  this  letter,  this  city,  this  "  eter- 
nal "  Rome  bears  solemn  witness  to  the  aforesaid  truth.  Here 
in  "eternal"  Rome  a  republic  arose,  a  republic  of  farmers; 
and  as  long  as  those  farmers  were  landowners  the  republic 
endured  and  prospered  and  was  a  blessing.  But  when  the 
free,  landowning  farmers  departed,  liberty  also  departed; 


A  MISSIONARY  IN  ROME  173 

and  when  the  render  came,  there  came  with  him  slavery  and  a 
curse.  And  why  did  the  landowning  farmer  go?  Because 
he  was  turned  out.  And  who  turned  him  out.'*  Organized 
militarism  and  organized  usury. 

But  why  did  not  the  farmers  of  old  Rome  unite?  Be- 
cause they  "hadn't  got  the  time",  because  they  were  "  too 
busy."  And  thus,  in  the  end,  the  Roman  farmers  became 
beggars  and  received  largess  of  grain  and  oil  in  the  plaza  not 
far  from  where  I  am  now  writing.  And  so  it  will  be  with  the 
American  farmer  if  he  also  "has  not  got  time",  if  he  also  is 
"too  busy"  to  organize.  For  the  law  of  concentration  acts 
now  as  it  acted  two  thousand  years  ago. 

The  farmers  of  Old  Rome  were  "weighed  in  the  balance 
and  found  wanting."  How  will  it  be  with  the  American 
farmer  ?     Has  not  the  time  come  for  him  to  organize  ? 

Having  written  this  letter,  Lubin  started  out  on  the  work 
which  had  brought  him  to  Rome.  His  first  move  was  to 
call  on  the  Director  General  of  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture, 
whom  he  had  consulted  eight  years  before,  when  collecting 
European  opinion  on  the  tariff  as  a  means  of  protecting 
agricultural  exports. 

To  this  typical  bureaucrat,  a  stout  elderly  man  of  jovial 
appearance,  courteous  but  skeptical  and  gradually  amazed, 
Lubin  briefly  set  forth  his  views,  stating  that  he  had  come  to 
Rome  to  see  if  the  Chief  Executive  of  the  Italian  nation 
would  become  the  sponsor  to  his  proposal. 

"The  Chief  Executive  of  the  Nation?  Does  he  mean 
the  King?"  Commendatore  Siemoni  asked  me,  taken  aback 
at  the  audacity  of  the  proposal. 

I  translated.  "Yes,  that's  it.  The  King  of  Italy.  Ask 
him  how  I  can  see  the  King." 

The  Commendatore  was  almost  shocked.  "Certain 
names  should  not  be  lightly  mentioned."  Then,  resuming 
his  easy,  courteous  manner,  he  went  on:  "Anyhow,  it  is  a 
proposal  entirely  outside  my  province.  Of  course,  it  may  be 
a  good  one.  I  would  suggest  that  you  talk  the  matter  over 
with  Professor  Montemartini." 


174  DAVID  LUBIN 

Giovanni  Montemartini  was  a  young  man  of  notable 
talent  who  already  occupied  an  important  administrative 
post,  and  who  would  undoubtedly  have  become  a  primary 
factor  in  Italian  life  had  not  death  ended  his  career  pre- 
maturely in  1911.  The  famous  economist  and  financier, 
Luigi  Luzzatti,  then  Minister  of  the  Treasury  in  the  third 
Giolitti  Cabinet,  had  noted  his  unusual  gifts  and  had  been 
instrumental  in  having  him  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Labor 
Bureau  of  the  then  Ministry  of  Agriculture,  Industry  and 
Commerce.  A  brilliant  man  of  progressive  ideas  and  a 
Socialist  to  boot,  it  had  become  the  habit  of  his  colleagues 
to  railroad  in  to  him  any  one  whom  they  considered  a  crank 
with  a  bee  in  his  bonnet. 

But  before  going  further  in  interviewing  Department 
men,  Lubin  thought  it  his  duty  to  place  his  ideas  before  the 
Minister  of  Agriculture  himself,  and  having  called  on  the 
American  Embassy  and  obtained  from  the  chargS  d'affaires 
a  note  requesting  an  audience  in  his  behalf,  we  climbed  up  a 
long  flight  of  stairs  —  Lubin  stopping  to  take  breath  at 
almost  every  step  —  and  sat  in  the  Minister's  anteroom. 
The  line  from  the  Embassy  secured  prompt  admission ; 
the  interview  was  short  and  decisive.  The  Minister  Luigi 
Rava,  a  short,  fussy,  self-important  man,  had  evidently 
had  a  trying  morning.  A  general  election  was  imminent, 
and  such  times  are  apt  to  try  the  souls  of  Cabinet  ministers. 
He  was  nervous  and  hurried  and  wanted  Lubin  to  tell  him 
quickly  what  was  up ;  and  Lubin  wanted  to  make  a  deliberate 
statement  of  the  case;  if  there  was  one  thing  he  disliked 
more  than  another  it  was  to  be  interrupted :  he  always  said 
it  crossed  wires  and  got  his  mind  off  the  track.  When,  at 
the  Minister's  urgency,  he  briefly  stated  that  he  wished  to 
see  the  King  with  a  view  to  Italy  taking  the  initiative  in  a 
movement  for  the  international  organization  of  agriculture, 
Rava  thought  he  had  no  time  to  waste  on  cranks,  and  say- 
ing to  me  in  Italian:  **Ma  queste  sono  americanate"  (But 
these  are  American  ideas)  he  summarily  showed  us  out. 

Montemartini  was  the  next  step  in  the  endeavor.    He  gave 


A  MISSIONARY  IN  ROME  175 

a  very  different  reception  to  the  matter.  He  listened 
attentively  to  Lubin. 

"This  is  no  crank,"  Montemartini  said  to  me  in  Italian 
when  Lubin  had  concluded  his  statement:  "he  is  right, 
and  his  proposal  is  most  important."  Nor  was  he  alarmed 
when  Lubin  expressed  the  wish  to  place  the  matter  before 
the  King.  He  suggested  as  the  best  mode  of  approach 
Luigi  Luzzatti,  the  veteran  statesman  who  had  done  so 
much  to  retrieve  Italian  finances,  the  apostle  of  cooperation, 
whose  keen  intellect  and  vivid  sympathies  made  him  ever 
ready  to  assist  in  the  realization  of  progressive  or  philan- 
thropic ideas.  As  Minister  of  the  Treasury  he  was  in  a 
position  to  help  Lubin  if  he  would. 

The  Treasury  Department  was  our  next  goal.  We  were 
received  by  Comm.  Concini,  Luzzatti's  private  secretary, 
who  informed  us  that  the  Minister  was  out  of  Rome;  the 
forthcoming  elections  absorbed  the  energies  of  public  men, 
and  the  time  was  inopportune  for  calling  their  attention 
to  matters  such  as  that  which  Lubin  briefly  outlined.  "Tell 
him  there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  opportune  or  an  inopportune 
time,"  replied  Lubin.  "If  the  matter  is  valueless,  then  all 
times  are  inopportune ;  but  if  it  is  of  supreme  importance, 
as  I  believe,  then  no  time  is  so  opportune  as  the  present." 
And  he  brushed  aside  the  idea  that  the  general  elections  were 
a  sufficient  impediment.  "In  a  few  years'  time  who  will 
remember  there  ever  was  a  general  election  in  Italy  in 
October,  1904  ?  Whereas  the  matter  of  which  I  speak  will 
make  history." 

And  he  handed  the  Secretary  a  short  typewritten  state- 
ment of  the  case.  "Hand  this  to  your  Minister  when  he 
returns,  and  tell  him  if  he  wishes  to  be  a  great  man  to 
give  it  a  careful  reading,"  and  with  the  assurance  that  on 
Luzzatti's  return  he  would  be  afforded  an  opportunity  to 
place  the  case  before  him,  Lubin  left. 

Some  days  elapsed  during  which  I  heard  nothing  more  of 
the  matter;  then  one  evening  about  nine  o'clock  a  young 
man  appeared  at  my  door,  saying  he  had  been  sent  by  Mr. 


176  DAVID  LUBIN 

Lubin  to  fetch  me  straight  away  to  the  Hotel  Bristol.  When 
I  demurred  at  the  hour  he  became  very  urgent ;  he  had  im- 
perative orders  to  bring  me  back  in  a  cab  which  waited  be- 
low. I  went  and  found  Lubin  seated  on  a  box  in  his  small 
room  in  the  Bristol  Hotel,  anxiously  awaiting  my  arrival  so 
as  to  speak  to  a  journalist  who  knew  no  English.  It  turned 
out  that  the  gentleman  was  the  sporting  editor  of  the 
Tribuna,  a  not  very  hopeful  approach  to  the  end  in  view,  but 
silence  in  other  quarters  was  making  Lubin  desperate.  He 
obtained  a  promise  that  no  newspaper  "copy"  was  to  be 
made  of  what  he  had  to  say  —  a  promise  most  hono- 
rably kept  —  and  Signor  Lionelli,  who  turned  out  to  be 
intelligent  on  much  besides  sports,  quite  came  under  the 
spell  of  Lubin's  eloquence. 

The  fact  is  that  those  who  were  privileged  to  come  in 
contact  with  Lubin  during  those  months  all  experienced 
the  same  impression.  The  man  was  inspired ;  his  whole 
being  —  physical,  mental,  spiritual  —  was  bent  in  con- 
centrated effort  toward  achievement.  The  Italian  mind  is 
temperamentally  suspicious,  and  our  age  is  one  of  self- 
seeking;  but  to  speak  with  Lubin  for  half  an  hour  was  to 
come  away  with  the  absolute  certainty  that  no  shade  of  self- 
interest  stained  the  purity  of  his  endeavor.  The  Italian  is 
an  idealist  but  has  scant  toleration  for  cranks ;  but  Lubin's 
ideas  were  so  lucid,  his  facts  so  sound,  his  deductions  so 
logical  that  he  could  not  be  placed  in  that  category.  More- 
over, there  was  a  religious  fervor  about  him,  an  entire  con- 
secration to  a  lofty  ideal,  which  commanded  respect  even 
from  the  skeptical.  In  those  months  he  was  at  the  very 
zenith  of  his  powers.  One  felt,  moreover,  that  it  was  the 
spirit  which  kept  the  body  alive.  He  hardly  ate ;  his  nights 
were  so  broken  by  a  racking  cough  that  the  hotel  guests 
in  neighboring  rooms  complained  and  had  to  be  accommo- 
dated elsewhere.  Yet  he  was  ever  ready  for  whatever  effort 
the  work  might  demand.  Out  in  all  weathers,  up  at  all 
hours,  dragging  himself  up  the  endless  flights  of  Roman 
stairs;    arguing,  persuading,  coaxing;    generous  in  praise 


A  MISSIONARY  IN  ROME  177 

to  all  who  helped  him,  more  than  modest  in  his  own  regard. 
Direct,  unornate,  somewhat  abrupt  in  manner,  the  courtesy 
that  comes  of  natural  sensitiveness  and  good  feeling  was  his 
and  soon  won  him  fast  friends  among  the  Italians  with  whom 
he  was  brought  in  touch.  At  times  —  but  in  those  months 
only  rarely  and  with  the  few  —  he  would  sit  back,  and  with 
closed  eyes  as  though  to  concentrate  on  the  inner  vision, 
would  give  a  glimpse  of  the  dreams  he  dreamed,  summoning 
up  to  the  almost  awe-struck  listener  the  grandeur  and  no- 
bihty  of  the  theme  of  Israel's  sages,  the  dream  of  a  Messianic 
age,  of  nations  exalted  by  righteousness,  of  swords  beaten 
into  plowshares,  when  knowledge  shall  cover  the  earth 
as  the  waters  the  sea,  when  the  Lord's  House  shall  be  es- 
tablished on  the  summit  of  the  mountains,  and  all  nations 
shall  flow  unto  it. 

"All  nations";  he  had  left  far  behind  particularism, 
sectionahsm,  *'my  nation  right  or  wrong."  The  univer- 
sality of  Rome,  of  the  city  which  has  twice  been  the 
capital  of  the  world,  once  by  armed  might  and  then  by 
the  still  mightier  power  of  the  spirit,  matched  his  mood. 

On  one  of  those  days  of  waiting  he  drove  down  to  the 
Forum,  and  standing  by  the  Arch  of  Titus  suddenly  asked 
me,  "  Who  won  the  struggle  between  Rome  and  Jerusalem  ?  " 
"Rome,"  I  replied,  somewhat  startled  by  the  inquiry  and 
failing  to  follow  the  train  of  thought.  "You  think  so,"  he 
said ;  "and  this  arch  shows  us  the  seven-branched  candela- 
brum of  the  Temple  carried  in  the  triumphal  procession  of  a 
Roman  Caesar.  But  look  there,"  pointing  in  the  direction 
of  St.  Peter's  dome,  "and  tell  me  now.  Is  it  a  Roman 
Emperor  whose  foot  is  worn  away  with  the  kisses  of  the 
people  ?  " 

But  Lubin  was  determined  to  see  the  King.  Could 
Lionelli  help  ?  Lubin  always  had  the  faculty  of  making  his 
co-workers  feel  that  the  word  "impossible"  must  have  no 
place  in  their  vocabulary,  and  so  the  journalist  remembered 
that  he  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  King's  aid-de-campy 
General  Brusati,   at  the  races  at  Naples.     He   therefore 


178  DAVID  LUBIN 

suggested  that  Lubin  go  with  him  to  San  Rossore  near  Pisa, 
where  the  King  was  then  staying,  when  he  would  recall 
himself  to  Brusati,  introduce  Lubin,  and  see  if  the  audience 
could  not  be  brought  about  that  way.  Nothing  better 
offering  Lubin  consented,  and  he,  the  sporting  editor,  and 
my  humble  self  as  interpreter  arranged  to  leave,  Lionelli 
trying  to  impress  Lubin  with  the  need  of  correct  attire,  — 
Prince  Albert  coat,  stovepipe  hat,  and  light-colored  kid 
gloves.  "Well,  well,  I  will  get  the  proper  traps  when  I  am 
sure  of  the  audience,"  was  Lubin's  reply.  The  silk  hat  of 
diplomacy  evidently  inspired  him  with  alarm  where  the  idea 
of  laying  down  the  law  to  a  King  seemed  to  him  perfectly 
natural. 

But  the  Fates  willed  that  he  should  be  introduced  under 
other  auspices.  On  the  very  morning  of  the  day  fixed  for 
our  departure  a  summons  came  from  Luzzatti. 

The  veteran  statesman,  as  much  of  an  idealist  in  those 
latter  years  as  he  had  been  in  his  youth  when  preaching  the 
gospel  of  cooperation,  had  found  time  to  read  Lubin's  paper ; 
it  had  impressed  him  as  a  sound  combination  of  the  ideal 
and  the  practical ;  he  grasped  its  significance  in  the  inter- 
national field.  "  Such  an  organization  could  become  a  more 
powerful  instrument  for  peace  than  the  Hague  conference,'* 
he  said,  and  inquired  what  he  could  do  to  help.  "Get  me 
an  audience  with  the  King,"  came  the  prompt  reply,  and 
there  and  then  Luzzatti  dictated  a  letter  complying  with 
Lubin's  wish. 

When  I  met  Lubin  to  catch  the  two  p.m.  train  I  found 
him  radiant.  The  only  cloud  on  the  horizon  was  the  sport- 
ing editor.  "We  really  don't  need  him  now,  and  he  may  be 
rather  in  the  way  ;  but  he 's  a  right  good  fellow  and  I  wouldn't 
hurt  his  feelings  for  the  world,  so  he  must  just  come  with 
us,"  was  Lubin's  comment  on  the  situation.  However, 
even  that  slight  drawback  was  to  be  removed ;  for,  just  as 
we  were  preparing  to  start,  a  message  came  from  Signor 
Lionelli  stating  that  he  had  sprained  his  foot  and  deeply  re- 
gretted his  inability  to  come. 


A  MISSIONARY  IN  ROME  179 

David  Lubin's  knowledge  of  kings  was  derived  from 
history  books,  and  the  title  was  associated  in  his  mind  with 
a  degree  of  personal  power  far  exceeding  that  exercised  by 
the  constitutional  monarch  of  our  days.  If  he  knew  little 
of  royal  prerogatives,  he  knew  still  less  of  court  etiquette 
when,  armed  with  Luzzatti's  letter,  he  set  out  to  see  Victor 
Emanuel  III.  I  had  urged  him  to  send  the  letter  to  General 
Brusati  and  await  results,  but  he  had  scant  belief  in  my 
knowledge  on  the  subject  (and  I  am  free  to  admit  that  I  was 
not  in  the  habit  of  calling  on  Royalty)  and  insisted  on  follow- 
ing his  own  judgment,  which  was  to  get  into  the  first  cab 
(or  wagon  as  he  always  called  such  vehicles),  drive  to  San 
Rossore,  and  inquire  at  the  gate  of  the  little  shooting  box  if 
the  King  was  in.  He  was  told  that  His  Majesty  was  out 
shooting  with  General  Brusati,  so  he  handed  in  Luzzatti's 
letter  and  with  it  (again  acting  against  my  advice)  a  black- 
bound  scrap-book  containing  a  number  of  letters  "to  all 
whom  it  may  concern",  from  friends  and  well-wishers  in  the 
United  States  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of  producing  in 
evidence  of  his  identity  and  respectability  when  calling  on 
strangers.  Saying  that  he  would  return  in  two  hours'  time 
for  an  answer,  he  drove  off.  He  came  back,  once,  twice, 
thrice;  he  returned  again  the  next  morning,  but  always 
to  get  the  same  answer :  "His  Majesty  is  out,"  and  the  last 
time  his  book  was  returned  to  him  and  with  it  the  letter. 
He  looked  blank  indeed ;  but  on  opening  the  envelope  failure 
was  explained.  He  had  inadvertently  handed  in  a  trans- 
lation of  Luzzatti's  letter  instead  of  the  original ! 

"If  we  keep  on  driving  back  and  forth  like  this,  asking 
for  the  King,  we  shall  be  taken  for  anarchists  and  arrested," 
I  said.  "Let  us  return  to  the  Hotel,  send  the  proper  letter 
by  post,  and  await  the  answer  which  cannot  fail  to  come  in 
due  time." 

Lubin  reluctantly  acted  on  this  suggestion  and  passed  a 
restless  day,  waiting  and  wondering.  He  called  on  the 
Mayor  of  Pisa  and  solicited  his  help ;  he  spoke  with  the 
hotel  proprietor;   by  the  evening  he  had  almost  given  up 


180  DAVID   LUBIN 

hope.  Then,  at  nine  p.m.,  the  call  came.  His  Majesty 
would  receive  Mr.  David  Lubin  on  the  morrow,  Sunday, 
24th  October,  at  nine  a.m. 

"We  must  leave  at  7.30,"  he  said  to  me.  I  demurred, 
for  the  drive  from  Pisa  to  San  Rossore  takes  little  more  than 
half  an  hour.  "Everything  depends  on  the  outcome  of  this 
conference;  we  must  run  no  risks,"  he  replied.  "The  wagon 
might  break  down  on  that  country  road  and  I  should  have 
to  go  on  foot,  and  I  cannot  walk  fast." 

And  the  tall  hat  and  gloves  ?  He  had  meant  to  buy  them 
when  the  call  came,  and  here  it  was  nine  o'clock  at  night 
and  the  audience  for  Sunday  morning.  "Well,  we  must 
just  do  the  best  we  know  how."  I  pointed  out  that  there 
was  no  need  for  me  to  accompany  him.  "Oh,  yes,"  he  re- 
plied, "you  must  come.  If  the  King  does  not  speak  English, 
or  only  pidgin  English,  you  must  be  there  to  interpret." 

So  attired  in  the  Prince  Albert  coat  dear  to  Bureaucracy, 
but  wearing  his  broad-brimmed  felt  hat  and  with  hands  un- 
cased in  gloves,  Lubin  set  forth  the  next  morning  in  a  ram- 
shackle cab  with  a  very  shabby  driver,  the  first  he  had  struck 
in  Pisa.  I  had  suggested  hiring  a  more  stylish  turnout,  but 
he  said  no,  the  man  was  a  good  fellow  and  he  would  not  do 
him  out  of  the  job. 

The  spirit  in  which  Lubin  started  off  on  this  culminating 
effort  of  long  years  of  work  was  that  in  which  a  prophet  of 
old  may  have  addressed  a  King  in  Israel.  He  was  not  in  the 
least  dazzled  or  unduly  impressed  at  the  idea  of  meeting 
royalty,  but  with  almost  childlike  simplicity  and  directness 
and  with  an  unsophisticated  belief  in  the  power  of  the  man  he 
was  to  address,  he  concentrated  all  the  faith  and  earnest- 
ness and  exaltation  that  was  in  him  on  the  task  in  which 
he  felt  that  he  was  but  a  humble  instrument  in  the  hands  of 
Providence. 

Many  stories  have  been  current  on  this  interview  between 
a  rough  man  of  the  "wild  and  woolly  West"  and  the  King 
of  Italy ;  anecdotes  in  which  fancy  has  been  free  to  run  riot, 
for  Lubin  sternly  refused  to  give  interviews  or  make  cheap 


A  MISSIONARY  IN  ROME  181 

newspaper  copy  out  of  an  event  which  he  believed  to  be  of 
great  historic  significance.  One  thing  stands  out  as  solid 
fact  amidst  much  fiction ;  a  man  utterly  unknown  in  Italy, 
with  no  oflBcial  backing  of  any  sort,  presenting  himself  in 
the  most  modest  and  unconventional  way,  went  in  and  stood 
before  a  king,  and  by  sheer  force  of  logic  and  by  the  nobility 
and  earnestness  of  his  presentation  secured  in  half  an  hour's 
time  from  the  Head  of  a  great  nation  the  promise  to 
take  the  initiative  in  materializing  the  project  he  had  at 
heart. 

Lubin  was  closeted  with  Victor  Emmanuel  for  some 
three  quarters  of  an  hour  while  I  sat  in  the  little  anteroom 
where  the  prefect,  the  mayor,  and  the  Bishop  of  Pisa  were 
waiting  their  turn  to  go  in  and  pay  their  respects  to  the 
Sovereign  on  this  the  first  day  on  which  he  was  giving 
audience  since  reaching  San  Rossore.  Such  audiences 
usually  last  for  some  ten  minutes,  and  as  the  clock  hands 
went  round,  marking  a  quarter,  and  then  half -past  nine,  and 
still  Lubin's  loud,  booming  voice  could  be  heard  through 
the  thin  partition,  the  assembled  dignitaries  looked  at  one 
another,  evidently  wondering  what  was  up.  Then  the  door 
opened  and  Lubin  came  out,  his  face  wreathed  in  smiles. 
It  was  evident  at  a  glance  that  his  mission  had  been  crowned 
with  success. 

As  we  drove  away,  he  gave  me  some  account  of  this  strange 
conference.  He  had  told  the  King  that  as  the  success  of  a 
merchant  is  reckoned  at  the  end  of  a  year  by  the  amount 
of  dollars  he  has  been  able  to  accumulate,  so  the  success  of  a 
ruler  is  determined  by  the  work  of  historic  importance  he  has 
been  able  to  perform.  "I  bring  you  the  opportunity  to 
perform  a  work  of  historic  importance,  which  will  entitle  you 
to  more  enduring  fame  than  the  Caesars ;  they  earned  fame 
by  wars,  you  would  earn  it  by  working  for  peace,  the  peace 
of  righteousness.  You  are  of  course  a  very  important  person 
here,  but  remember,  you  are  a  small  potato  in  the  world,  the 
monarch  of  a  third-rate  country.  Take  up  this  work  in 
earnest  and  at  one  leap  Italy  can  head  the  nations  in  the 


182  DAVID  LUBIN 

great  fight  of  our  day,  —  the  fight  for  justice  in  economic 
relations." 

Speaking  to  a  statesman,  he  pointed  out  that  the  principal 
function  of  good  government  is  the  maintenance  of  the 
equilibrium  between  the  progressive  tendency  of  the  city 
man  and  the  conservative  tendency  of  the  man  of  the  coun- 
try, and  he  emphasized  the  importance  to  the  State  of 
the  independent,  landowning  farmer  by  pointing  to  the 
history  of  Old  Rome.  "And  now  the  world  is  once  more 
facing  a  similar  condition  to  that  which  led  to  the  downfall 
of  the  Roman  Empire;  unorganized  agriculture  is  vainly 
trying  to  hold  its  own  against  the  organized  forces  of  the 
cities ;  its  position  is  much  the  same  as  that  of  the  prisoner 
of  old,  sent  into  the  arena  with  a  reed  and  told  to  defend 
himself  against  a  gladiator  fully  armed.  Trusts  and  price 
manipulators  are  slowly  crushing  the  life  out  of  the  conserva- 
tive element  in  the  body  politic,  and  as  a  result  you  are  living 
on  the  edge  of  a  volcano  which  may  at  any  moment  break 
into  eruption,  and  you  know  it.  Governments  seek  to 
protect  the  status  quo  by  armaments ;  to  discontent  they 
reply  by  ever  more  soldiers,  and  more  policemen,  and  more 
prisons ;  they  go  for  the  agitators  in  the  red  shirts  and  red 
ties  and  fail  to  see  that  these  are  harmless  when  compared 
to  those  arch  radicals  of  commerce  and  finance,  the  trusts, 
the  speculators,  and  the  manipulators.  How  can  these  be 
fought  ?  Anti-trust  legislation  is  but  dust  in  the  eyes  of  the 
people;  it  is  powerless  to  change  the  condition;  the  con- 
centration of  capital  is  a  product  of  modern  conditions; 
its  evils  can  only  be  fought  by  using  its  own  weapons,  by 
organizing  the  unorganized,  by  replacing  ignorance  by 
knowledge,  anarchy  by  order,  by  providing  the  conservative 
forces  of  agriculture  with  an  international  organ  which 
would  be  for  them  the  ear,  the  eye,  and  the  directing  brain 
which  merchants,  financiers,  and  city  labor  have  provided 
themselves  with  in  their  national  and  international  under- 
standings, orgauizations,  Chambers  of  Commerce,  Federa- 
tions." 


A  MISSIONARY  IN  ROME  183 

And  even  while  Lubin  was  setting  forth  his  case  his  eye 
suddenly  noted  the  broad-brimmed  felt  hat  he  had  in- 
advertently brought  in  and  placed,  as  was  his  wont,  on  the 
table  before  him.  It  struck  him  as  out  of  place ;  it  annoyed 
him;  he  tried  to  get  it  out  of  the  way  without  attracting 
undue  attention.  The  King,  noting  his  uneasiness,  inquired 
its  cause.  "The  fact  is,  Your  Majesty,"  Lubin  replied, 
"I  was  trying  to  get  this  hat  off  the  table.  Your  men  in 
Rome  told  me  before  I  came  here  that  I  ought  to  get  a  tall 
hat  to  come  to  see  you,  but  I  had  never  worn  one  —  they 
are  n't  exactly  fashionable  in  Sacramento  —  so  I  meant  to 
buy  it  here.  But  when  your  call  came  last  night  there 
was  n't  the  time,  and  now  I  fear  this  looks  disrespectful." 

"But  the  King  only  smiled  and  told  me  to  go  on  with  my 
story,"  Lubin  said  in  telling  quaintly  of  this  incongruous 
anti-climax. 

Put  once  more  at  his  ease,  he  proceeded  to  show  that  the 
initiative  for  such  an  organization  must  be  taken  by  a  king. 
Why  not  the  King  of  Italy  ?  Why  should  not  Rome  once 
more  say  the  word  which  the  nations  of  the  earth  would 
obey.'*  Why  should  she  not  regain  her  erstwhile  spiritual 
supremacy  and  raise  the  temple  to  Righteousness,  to  right- 
eousness in  economic  relations  ?  He  concluded  by  reminding 
his  royal  listener  of  the  old  Greek  Fable  which  told  that  the 
Goddess  Fortune  knocks  at  each  man's  door,  taps  very 
gently,  and  but  once.  If  the  call  is  heard  and  the  door 
opened,  she  steps  in;  if  not  she  passes  on  and  returns  no 
more.  Would  the  King  hear.'*  And  all  unconscious  of 
royal  etiquette  it  was  the  Californian  who  rose  to  leave.  He 
left  with  the  promise  that  Victor  Emmanuel  would  read  the 
paper  he  had  brought,  in  which  these  ideas  were  briefly  re- 
capitulated, would  have  the  matter  examined  by  his  min- 
isters, and,  if  they  thought  well  of  it,  that  he  would  himself 
take  the  initiative  towards  founding  a  World  Chamber  of 
Agriculture. 

The  incredible  was  accomplished.  Within  twenty  days 
of  reaching  Italy,  David  Lubin  had  won  the  first  battle  in 


184  DAVID  LUBIN 

what  was  to  be  a  long  campaign.  He  had  induced  the 
King  to  champion  the  cause  of  the  international  organization 
of  Agriculture.  His  mother's  prophecy,  so  oft  repeated  to 
the  wayward  boy  in  Polish  ghetto  and  East-side  tenement 
house,  "You  shall  sit  at  table  with  Kings,"  had  come  to 
pass. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  ROMANCE   OF   AN    IDEA 

"Will  you  make  history  with  me?" 

These  were  the  words  with  which,  an  hour  or  two  after 
his  audience  with  the  King,  Lubin  greeted  the  friend  who 
during  the  next  few  months  was  to  be  his  devoted  aide-de- 
camp in  launching  this  world  work. 

Gian  Francesco  Guerrazzi,  nephew  of  the  famous  Italian 
patriot  and  author,  PVancesco  Domenico  of  that  name, 
himself  an  ardent  worker  in  all  movements  for  national 
progress,  had  come  down  the  night  before  to  his  farm  near 
Pisa.  On  leaving  San  Rossore,  Lubin  wished  to  follow  up 
his  first  success,  and  I  brought  Guerrazzi  to  him  as  well 
suited  to  advise  on  a  course  of  action.  In  some  recollec- 
tions written  shortly  after  Lubin's  death,  he  tells  of  that 
interview  in  the  following  words : 

"It  was  at  the  Hotel  Nettuno  at  Pisa  that  I  first  met  a 
middle-aged  man,  dark-complexioned,  clean-shaven  with 
kindly  smiling  eyes  deep  set  in  a  lean  and  worn  face,  with 
an  abundant  crop  of  stiff  black  hair  just  turning  gray  grow- 
ing well  back  from  a  tall  forehead.  His  appearance  at  once 
denoted  a  man  of  no  common  stamp.  Without  further 
preliminaries  he  handed  me  a  scrap-book  in  which  were 
pasted  letters  and  recommendations  *to  all  whom  it  may 
concern'  from  eminent  persons  in  the  United  States. 
When  I  had  satisfied  his  wish  by  glancing  over  these,  David 
Lubin  addressed  me  with  friendly  familiarity. 

"*My  boy,  are  you  fond  of  history?'  To  my  smiling 
assent  he  rejoined :  *  Well,  then,  will  you  make  history  with 
me?' 

"This  sudden  invitation  rather  took  my  breath  away, 
but  my  curiosity  and  sympathy  were  aroused  and  as  I 
listened  I  became  both  fascinated  and  interested. 


186  DAVID  LUBIN 

"He  started  from  way  back,  and  in  a  rambling  talk,  re- 
lieved by  singular  and  picturesque  expression,  traced  down 
the  ages  the  everlasting  struggle  between  town  and  country, 
between  the  industrial  and  the  rural  population,  showing 
how  the  latter,  though  more  numerous,  more  virile,  and  the 
economic  and  military  backbone  of  the  State,  has,  never- 
theless, been  the  'under  dog'  in  the  struggle,  politically  out- 
witted and  economically  exploited  more  or  less  everywhere. 
This  was  the  substance  which  I  deduced  from  a  presentation 
in  which  he  summoned  up  images  and  suggested  thoughts 
by  quaint  unexpected  expressions  and  comparisons,  rather 
than  by  direct  statements.  The  ideas  were  not  new  to  me, 
but  he  spoke  with  such  warmth  of  conviction,  his  eyes  shot 
such  fiery  glances,  that  all  difladence  which  the  eccentricity 
of  the  person  or  of  the  approach  might  have  inspired  melted 
away.  Indeed,  I  felt  strongly  attracted  to  this  man,  ob- 
viously moved  by  a  deep  sense  of  injustice  to  be  righted,  of 
good  to  be  accomplished.  And  he  won  my  assent  more 
and  more  when,  analyzing  the  phenomena,  he  assigned  the 
cause  of  the  inferiority  complained  of  to  the  defective  organ- 
ization of  the  agricultural  classes.  He  was  speaking  to  a 
convert." 

After  this  lengthy  preamble,  David  Lubin  explained  his 
proposed  remedy,  pointing  out  that  the  King  of  Italy  was 
well  fitted  to  take  the  initiative  toward  its  realization.  A 
country  of  preponderating  weight  either  as  exporter  or  im- 
porter would  be  likely  to  arouse  in  others  suspicion  and  jeal- 
ousy. The  Head  of  an  insignificant  country  would  not  carry 
sufficient  weight.  Italy,  being  neither  a  great  buyer  nor 
seller  of  the  staples,  was  admirably  suited  for  the  purpose, 
and  the  attraction  of  a  great  name  would  confer  dignity 
on  any  movement  coming  from  Rome. 

Then  and  there,  while  lunching  with  Lubin  in  the  restau- 
rant of  the  "Nettuno",  opening  on  the  sleepy  Lungarno 
basking  in  the  October  sun,  Guerrazzi  drew  up  a  list  of  econ- 
omists, agrarians,  and  statesmen  who  might  assist  his  new 


THE  ROMANCE   OF  AN  IDEA  187 

acquaintance  in  working  out  the  details  of  the  idea.  The 
name  of  Professor  Maffeo  Pantaleoni  headed  the  list. 

That  same  afternoon  Lubin  left  Pisa,  and  the  next  morning 
by  ten  o'clock  we  stood  on  the  doorstep  of  the  famous 
professor  of  political  economy  of  the  Rome  University. 

"What's  the  argument?"  exclaimed  Prof  essor  Pantaleoni 
in  his  abrupt,  incisive  manner,  pacing  up  and  down  his 
library,  evidently  somewhat  put  out  at  the  intrusion. 

"Argument.''  There's  no  argument;  I  haven't  yet 
spoken,"  rejoined  Lubin,  and  settled  down  to  tell  his  story. 

His  mode  of  presentation  was  always  disconcerting  to 
those  who  did  not  know  him.  Instead  of  the  stereotyped 
talk  on  agriculture,  interlarded  with  statistical  data  and 
political  and  economic  platitudes  generally  expected  from 
agrarian  reformers,  this  strange  looking  Westerner  would 
start  with  the  history  of  old  Rome  or  Palestine,  illustrat- 
ing his  contentions  with  Biblical  texts,  with  parables  and 
illustrations,  and  while  the  amazed  listener  was  getting 
ready  to  dismiss  a  crank,  if  not  a  bore,  he  would  gradually 
find  himself  interested  by  the  picturesque  and  forcible 
language,  and  then  seized  and  impressed  by  the  logic  of 
this  man  who  stated  abstruse  economic  truths  in  the  lan- 
guage of  a  Bret  Harte  miner,  and  drew  from  his  wide  ex- 
perience as  merchant  and  farmer  generalizations  and  de- 
ductions as  accurate  and  incontrovertible  as  they  were 
striking  and  novel.  Hesitating  and  awkward  at  the  start, 
Lubin,  if  allowed  to  speak  without  interruption  —  and  he 
would  generally  stipulate  for  this  privilege  —  would  grad- 
ually warm  to  his  subject  and  become  eloquent  and  impres- 
sive. 

So  it  was  on  this  occasion ;  and  as  I  sat  by,  I  saw  on  the 
keen  intellectual  features  of  the  Italian  the  gradual  change 
of  mental  attitude  toward  his  unexpected  visitor.  When 
we  came  in  he  looked  as  if  ten  minutes  were  all  the  time  he 
could  spare.  When  Lubin  had  finished  some  two  hours 
had  elapsed. 

"You  are  right;    the  conditions  you  point  to  are  here; 


188  DAVID   LUBIN 

the  trust  has  come  to  stay  and  can  only  be  fought  success- 
fully if  the  agricultural  interest  is  organized,  is  no  longer 
the  lamb  facing  the  two  ravening  wolves  of  which  you  have 
spoken.  And  you  state  an  economic  truth  when  you  point 
out  that  this  organization  to  be  effective  must  be  inter- 
national. The  idea  is  right,  but  it  will  take  long  years  to  see 
it  realized ;  perhaps  our  children's  children  may  do  so ;  we 
shall  not." 

"Oh,"  replied  Lubin,  "but  I  have  the  promise  of  your 
King  that  if  the  proposition  is  a  sound  one  he  will  take  the 
initiative." 

"  You  have  seen  the  King  ?     When  ?  " 

"  Yesterday ;  and  I  come  to  ask  you  to  help  me  draw  up 
the  definite  propositions  to  be  submitted  to  your  Govern- 
ment for  action." 

"How  long  have  you  been  working  on  this?  When  did 
you  reach  Rome  ?  " 

"About  three  weeks  ago,"  said  Lubin  in  a  matter-of-fact 
way.  Twenty  days  seemed  to  his  impatience  a  very  long 
period. 

"And  you  have  the  King's  promise?  " 

"Yes;  if  his  Ministers  approve.  It  is  now  up  to  us  to 
convince  them.     Will  you  help  ?  " 

The  Professor's  surprise  was  immense.  Here  indeed  was 
no  idle  dreamer  but  a  man  of  action  and  achievement,  a 
general  in  whose  ranks  one  might  well  enlist. 

A  little  group  of  ardent  workers  was  soon  formed.  Panta- 
leoni,  Montemartini,  Guerrazzi,  my  husband,  Antonio 
Agresti,  Professor  Bosco,  a  gifted  young  man  who  died  not 
long  after.  Professor  Colletti,  —  these  were  the  men  who  for 
several  weeks  labored  indefatigably  to  shape  and  refine  and 
give  practical  effect  to  the  ideas  Xiubin  had  brought  to  Rome. 

With  American  vim  and  energy  Lubin  allowed  no  time 
to  elapse  before  setting  to  work,  and  that  very  same  evening, 
October  25th,  the  little  group  held  the  first  of  many  meet- 
ings in  his  room  in  the  Bristol  Hotel. 

The  proposal,  as  elaborated  by  debate  and  study,  was 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  AN  IDEA  189 

indeed  pregnant  with  possibilities.  The  associations  of 
concentrated  capital  and  energy  resulting  in  trust,  merger, 
and  combine,  were  to  be  countered  by  organizing  the  agri- 
cultural interests  through  the  influences  exerted  directly 
and  indirectly  by  an  International  Chamber  of  Agriculture. 
This  Chamber  was  to  be  semi-official,  the  initiative  for  its 
foundation  being  taken  by  the  governments  on  the  invita- 
tion of  the  King  of  Italy.  In  effect,  it  would  be  an  economic 
parliament  with  advisory  and  consultative  powers,  through 
which  the  farmers  of  the  world  could  express  their  needs  and 
wishes.  Its  primary  function  would  be  to  gather  and  dis- 
seminate, on  a  world-wide  scale,  dynamic,  price-forming 
information  on  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  growing 
crops  and  on  the  world  demand  for  them.  Such  information, 
gathered  by  each  nation  and  assembled,  summarized  and 
published  telegraphically  by  the  Central  Chamber,  would 
place  the  farmers  in  possession  of  that  inside  information 
on  crop  conditions  and  stocks,  on  transport  facilities  and 
market  needs  which  had  hitherto  been  gathered  by  private 
interests  and  used  as  the  stock  in  trade  of  the  astute  specu- 
lator and  price  manipulator. 

This  dynamic,  statistical  information  could  not,  however, 
be  secured  by  the  concerted  action  of  farmers  alone.  In  all 
countries  the  collection  of  such  data  on  a  systematic  and  re- 
liable scale  is  the  province  of  government,  which,  represent- 
ing the  conflicting  interests  of  both  buyers  and  consumers, 
alone  affords  the  requisite  guarantee  of  impartiality.  There- 
fore, not  only  must  the  governments  take  the  initiative  in 
starting  the  Chamber,  but  they  must  be  directly  represented 
on  its  committees. 

Lubin  conceived  of  this  Chamber  as  formed  of  an  Upper 
and  a  Lower  House,  the  former  to  consist  of  one  government 
delegate  for  each  country,  the  latter  of  members  elected 
by  the  voluntary  agricultural  associations,  proportionately 
tp  their  number  and  importance.  Thus  the  live  economic 
forces  of  the  men  actually  engaged  in  farming,  both  as  land- 
owners and  tenants,  would  be  associated  in  permanent  and 


190  DAVID  LUBIN 

continuous  effort  with  the  representatives  of  governments 
to  endow  agriculture  with  ears,  eyes  and  directing  brain. 

The  possibilities  for  development  under  such  a  scheme 
were  vast  indeed.  Not  only  could  this  International  Cham- 
ber of  Agriculture  act  as  a  world  crop-reporting  bureau,  but 
it  could  also  be  the  recognized  center  for  studying  and  ad- 
vising on  the  international  aspect  of  all  questions  in  the  field 
of  agricultural  economics.  Joint  action  for  the  control  of 
diseases  of  plants  and  animals ;  international  reinsurance 
of  agricultural  risks;  the  international  problems  involved 
in  the  regulation  of  forests  and  watersheds ;  the  protection 
of  agricultural  products  against  fraud  by  international  agree- 
ments in  the  field  of  pure  food  legislation;  international 
regulation  of  the  migration  of  farm  labor  so  as  to  direct  it 
when  and  where  required ;  the  upbuilding  of  the  science  of 
agricultural  meteorology  through  concerted  government 
action ;  the  rapid  clearing  of  information  on  developments 
in  the  field  of  agricultural  cooperation  for  credit,  insurance, 
production  and  marketing,  placing  the  experience  acquired 
by  one  at  the  service  of  all,  these  were  all  problems  which 
the  Chamber  would  deal  with.  It  would  have  authority 
to  propose  to  member  governments  draft  agreements  for 
collective  action  in  the  interests  of  agriculture ;  it  would  be 
in  a  unique  position  to  promote  agricultural  organization. 

Nor  was  this  all.  Under  its  auspices  one  might  expect 
exchanges  to  be  opened  in  the  world's  market  centers  in 
which  the  agricultural  associations  would  themselves  place 
on  sale  the  products  of  the  farm,  and  it  might  well  be  that 
in  time  the  insurance  and  transportation  of  the  staples  would 
come  within  the  purview  of  the  activities  of  organizations 
which  would  grow  up  as  a  result  of  the  Chamber's  labors. 
It  can  be  readily  seen  how  powerful  an  instrument  it  could 
thus  become  in  fighting  the  trust. 

"But  could  not  governments,  through  legislation,  abolish 
detrimental  mergers,  combinations  and  trusts?"  Lubin  was 
asked  in  one  of  the  debates  at  the  Bristol  Hotel,  and  he  re- 
plied : 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  AN  IDEA  191 

"No;  absolutely  no.  In  order  to  do  so  the  Government 
would  first  have  to  possess  the  power  to  abolish  the  right  in 
personal  property  and  substitute  in  its  stead  the  right  of 
the  State  to  dictate  what  shall  be  done  with  personal  prop- 
erty. Any  legislation  under  the  present  social  system  in 
the  direction  of  prohibiting  the  right  of  incorporation  or  of 
combination  must  necessarily  prove  useless  for  the  end  in 
view.  The  way  to  abolish  detrimental  trusts,  combinations 
and  mergers  is  to  prevent  them  from  getting  hold  of  the 
product  in  the  first  place.  The  International  Chamber  of 
Agriculture,  as  trustee  for  the  welfare  of  the  world's  agri- 
cultural producers,  would  be  able  to  indicate  to  the  farmers 
how  their  products  could  be  disposed  of  outside  of  the  harm- 
ful influences  of  such  trusts." 

At  the  time  Lubin  was  talking  thus  in  Rome,  Wash- 
ington was  ringing  with  stirring  denunciations  of  the  trusts, 
culminating  in  the  Sherman  and  Clayton  laws.  Time  and 
experience  have  shown  which  side  was  the  exponent  of  the 
truest  statesmanship  in  this  matter,  and  if  the  organization 
which  Lubin  advocated  has  never  yet  been  given  a  fair 
chance  to  show  all  it  could  do  in  this  direction,  the  other 
policy  has  been  weighed  in  the  balance  and  found  wanting. 

In  all  this  Lubin  was  far  from  advocating  State  intrusion 
in  the  domain  of  trade ;  he  always  looked  upon  such  experi- 
ments with  suspicion.  The  developments  he  foresaw  as 
likely  to  arise  from  the  activities  of  the  Chamber  were  to 
be  the  result  of  free  association,  initiative,  development; 
they  were  to  be  no  parasitic  growth  dependent  on  govern- 
ment subsidies.  A  small  percentage  on  the  business  done 
by  produce  exchanges  operating  under  the  auspices  of  the 
International  Chamber,  or  the  sale  of  "seats"  therein,  would 
provide  the  means  of  meeting  any  expense,  however  con- 
siderable, which  the  formation  and  working  of  the  Inter- 
national Chamber  might  entail.  Government  was  only  to 
set  the  ball  rolling;  to  coordinate  effort;  to  supply  the 
machinery  for  collecting  the  data  on  crop  areas,  conditions, 
prospects,  and  results ;  to  act  as  impartial  umpire ;  to  exam- 


192  DAVID  LUBIN 

ine  and,  if  deemed  advisable,  give  effect  to  draft  conventions 
prepared  by  the  Chamber  for  collective  action. 

If  their  heads  were  in  the  clouds,  Lubin  and  his  coad- 
jutors had  their  feet  firmly  planted  on  Mother  Earth.  They 
carefully  guarded  against  the  error  of  attributing  the  func- 
tions of  a  super-government  to  this  vast  international  eco- 
nomic association.  National  sovereignty  was  in  no  wise  to 
be  challenged.  "How  would  the  proposed  International 
Chamber  of  Agriculture  affect  tariff  questions  and  the 
internal  economic  policy  of  the  nations?"  was  a  question 
put  to  Lubin  in  one  of  the  debates.  He  replied:  "The 
sovereignty  right  is  vested  in  each  nation.  The  Inter- 
national Chamber  of  Agriculture  would  not  have  the  power 
to  interfere  with  that  right.  The  nations  would  be  free,  as 
now,  to  legislate  on  and  protect  their  agricultural  interests 
as  they  may  see  fit.  The  proposed  International  Chamber 
would  be  consultative  and  deliberative,  it  would  come  to 
conclusions,  and  it  would  advise  that  these  conclusions  be 
adopted." 

Such  was  the  concrete  form  in  which  the  ideal  David 
Lubin  had  been  groping  after  for  so  many  years  was  taking 
shape.  A  work  which  might  well  be  deemed  worthy  of  a 
"Fighter  for  God"  was  dawning  on  his  sight.  It  was  no 
effort  to  seek  special  advantage,  but  an  effort  toward  the 
higher  synthesis.  The  International  Chamber  would  be 
the  lofty  economic  observatory  from  whose  summit  the 
several  lines  of  the  particular  would  be  seen  merging  into 
the  Universal.  What  greater  work  for  peace  than  to  make 
men  realize  that  a  loss  to  one  is  a  curse  to  all,  a  benefit  to 
one  a  blessing  to  all ;  and  to  teach  this  lesson  not  from  the 
pulpit  as  an  abstract  theory,  but  by  affording  an  enlightened 
view  of  actual  facts  in  the  business  world?  Was  not  this 
work  truly  paving  the  way  for  the  time  when  swords  should 
be  beaten  into  plowshares  ? 

In  the  debates  of  those  first  eager,  hectic  weeks  the  essen- 
tial solidarity  of  economic  interests  was  constantly  enforced. 

"As  the  staples  of  agriculture  are  governed  by  interna- 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  AN  IDEA  193 

tional  prices,  price  depression  caused  by  detrimental  combi- 
nations must  affect  farmers  adversely,  not  only  in  the 
territory  of  such  combinations  but  also  in  other  territories 
where  no  such  combinations  exist." 

"Would  not  the  proposed  association  enable  the  un- 
developed nations  to  profit  at  the  expense  of  the  developed  ?  " 

"They  would  undoubtedly  profit,  but  not  at  the  expense 
of  the  developed  nations.  Increased  prosperity  of  the  less 
fully  developed  would  tend  to  increase  their  imports  of 
manufactures  and  thus  equalize  the  benefits  in  all  direc- 
tions." 

"Would  it  not  seem  that  the  more  highly  organized  and 
developed  agricultural  nations  would  not  desire  to  see  their 
less  developed  rivals  organize?" 

"Not  at  all,  for  the  highly  organized  countries  are  intelli- 
gent enough  to  understand  the  benefits  they  can  derive  from 
the  progress  of  the  less  developed.  In  the  first  place,  the 
abnormally  low  prices  in  undeveloped  countries  tend  to 
make  the  world's  price  for  agricultural  products,  and  if 
these  abnormal  prices  are  raised  to  the  normal  level  this 
would  advance  the  world's  price  and  hence  advance  the 
price  in  the  developed  countries.  Secondly,  the  increased 
agricultural  prosperity  of  undeveloped  countries  would 
correspondingly  tend  to  increase  the  exports  of  manufac- 
tures from  the  more  developed  into  the  less  developed,  and 
thus  there  would  be  ample  compensation." 

The  almost  mystic  fervor  which  inspired  Lubin  was  re- 
flected in  his  collaborators.  They  were  developing  that 
faith  which  can  move  mountains.  But  every  now  and  again 
a  cold  douche  of  skepticism  would  give  a  shock  productive 
of  wholesome  reaction. 

In  his  eagerness  to  carry  the  work  to  a  successful  con- 
clusion, Lubin  would  sally  forth  occasionally  on  his  own 
initiative  to  win  new  converts,  and  in  this  connection  he 
had  some  amusing  experiences.  When  the  purpose  is  to 
speak  on  matters  of  public  importance  to  public  men,  he 
could  see  no  need  for  the  formality  of  introductions,  and 


194  DAVID  LUBIN 

very  generally  this  worked  out  all  right.  Anyhow,  acting 
on  this  theory,  he  never  hesitated  to  present  himself,  accom- 
panied by  his  book  of  recommendations,  at  the  house  of 
the  people  he  wished  to  see  and  ask  for  admittance.  I 
remember  on  one  occasion  driving  with  him  to  the  palatial 
residence  of  the  Marquis  Cappelli,  then  President  of  the 
Society  of  Italian  Agriculturists.  He  sent  up  his  catd  and 
his  book  by  the  porter,  and  in  a  few  minutes  word  came  that 
the  Marquis  wanted  no  wines  and  could  not  receive  him. 

"  Wines  ?  Does  the  d — d  fool  think  I  want  to  sell  wines  ?  '* 
Lubin  said  to  me  when  I  explained  the  situation.  "Tell 
him  I  have  nothing  to  sell  but  come  to  speak  to  him  on  a 
matter  of  public  interest." 

After  some  going  back  and  forth,  we  were  shown  into 
a  magnificent  room  where  a  handsome,  elderly  represent- 
ative of  the  European  landowning  aristocracy  received  us 
very  stiffly.  As  interpreter  I  had  to  explain  the  situation. 
"  What  do  you  want.''"  was  the  testy  query;  in  answer  to 
which  Lubin,  nothing  daunted,  handed  the  Marquis  a  type- 
written statement  (the  same  which  had  secured  him  the  sup- 
port of  the  King)  with  a  request  that  he  look  it  over.  As 
the  old  gentleman  rapidly  turned  the  pages,  he  kept  mut- 
tering the  equivalents  in  Italian  of  "Stuff",  "Nonsense", 
"  Preposterous  ",  and  then  handing  the  paper  back,  he  said  : 
"  There  is  nothing  in  your  idea ;  nothing  at  all.  You  grow 
lemons  and  oranges  in  California;  we  grow  lemons  and 
oranges  in  Sicily;  we  are  rivals;  there  is  no  basis  for 
international  action  in  agriculture,"  and  he  showed  us 
out.  When  some  three  weeks  later  the  King's  letter  was 
published,  taking  the  initiative,  one  of  the  first  congratula- 
tory messages  was  that  sent  by  Marquis  Cappelli,  who  was 
to  become  the  second  President  of  the  International  Insti- 
tute of  Agriculture  and  a  firm  convert  to  its  ideas. 

On  another  occasion  it  was  to  a  student,  a  historian  as 
well  as  a  large  landowner,  that  Lubin  introduced  himself. 
Count  Pier  Desiderio  Pasolini  received  the  stranger  with 
all  the  courtesy  of  the  pld-time  gentleman,  though  with 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  AN  IDEA  195 

some  undisguised  amazement.  He  made  him  sit  down  and 
listened  carefully  to  his  statement,  calling  in  his  son,  as 
representing  the  ideas  of  the  younger  generation.  The 
young  man  was  inclined  to  scoff,  but  his  father  reproved 
him:  "The  i(Jea  is  noble,  generous;  its  promulgator  de- 
serves respect ;  but  look  here,"  he  said,  leading  Lubin  to  a 
window  commanding  a  wide  view  over  the  great  city,  "you 
come  from  a  young  country  to  which  all  things  seem  possible ; 
but  remember,  you  are  in  Rome,  and  Rome  is  a  great  lady, 
but  she  is  very  very  old ;  she  is  weary  with  the  weight  of 
her  history ;  she  is  of  the  past ;  your  idea  is  of  the  future ; 
you  must  take  it  elsewhere." 

And  many  too  were  the  pitfalls  narrowly  avoided.  It  was 
essential  to  keep  the  whole  matter  from  the  press,  for  if 
the  King's  name  had  been  bandied  about  in  half-cooked 
newspaper  reports,  the  proposal  would  have  been  turned  to 
ridicule  and  dropped  like  a  hot  potato  by  those  responsible 
before  the  Sovereign ;  then  too  Lubin's  complete  ignorance 
of  the  wheels  within  wheels  in  Italian  and  Roman  politics 
laid  him  open  to  the  risk  of  appealing  to  the  wrong  as  well 
as  to  the  right  people. 

For  instance,  in  one  of  his  moments  of  depression,'  when 
weeks  seemed  to  him  years  and  hours  days,  and  when  he 
feared  that  after  all  nothing  would  come  of  his  endeavors, 
Lubin  appealed  for  help  to  a  fellow  countrywoman,  married 
to  an  Italian  Count,  a  lady  of  volcanic  energy  and  no  little 
ability.  She  suggested  taking  him  to  the  Pope.  To  Lubin, 
with  his  mystic  vision  of  the  Church  Universal  as  by  right 
the  educator  of  the  peoples,  the  idea  appealed  strongly. 
Leo  XIII  had  issued  the  Encyclical  on  Labor,  why  should 
not  Pius  X  issue  an  encyclical  on  agriculture  ?  On  her  side 
the  Countess  rather  fancied  playing  the  part  of  mediator 
between  Church  and  State,  effecting  a  reconciliation  be- 
tween the  Quirinal  and  the  Vatican  with  international  agri- 
culture as  the  olive-branch.  Of  course,  such  a  step  would 
have  been  fatal.  It  would  have  been  looked  upon  as  an 
insult  by  the  King  and  his  Government  who  had  the  proposal 


196  DAVID  LUBIN 

under  consideration,  and  would  have  been  received  with 
suspicion  by  the  Vatican.  But  Lubin's  frankness  and 
loyalty  enabled  him  to  thread  his  way  safely  through  the 
mazes  of  political  situations  which  he  could  not  be  expected 
to  understand.  He  would  take  no  step  before  consulting 
his  "pioneers",  as  he  called  the  little  band  of  the  first  days, 
and  on  this  occasion  Guerrazzi  was  soon  able  to  show  him 
how  things  stood.  "I  see:  it  would  be  like  trying  to  sit 
on  two  stools  and  falling  between  them,"  he  replied,  and  the 
matter  was  settled  so  far  as  he  was  concerned. 

By  a  mixture  of  daring  and  prudence,  of  shrewdness  and 
simplicity,  Lubin  succeeded  in  winning  important  friends 
to  his  cause,  among  them  a  professor  of  finance,  an  influential 
member  of  Parliament,  and  a  prominent  figure  in  the  social 
life  of  Rome,  the  Marchese  de  Viti  de  Marco.  Essentially 
skeptical  and  critical,  de  Viti's  was  not  a  temperament 
readily  susceptible  to  humanitarian  enthusiasms,  and  he 
saw  more  clearly  than  the  others  the  many  rocks  and  shoals 
ahead,  but  he  could  also  see  that  from  an  economic  stand- 
point Lubin  had  logic  on  his  side,  and  what  the  Marchese 
lacked  in  enthusiasm  was  supplied  by  his  American  wife. 
They  became  prominent  among  the  little  band  of  workers 
through  whom  Lubin's  dynamic  force  found  expression. 

During  these  weeks  of  work  the  group  kept  in  touch  with 
Luzzatti,  who  watched  the  elaboration  of  the  idea  with 
interest,  and  Guerrazzi,  who  had  easy  access  to  the  King, 
saw  that  His  Majesty  was  kept  informed  of  developments. 

By  December  the  proposal  had  developed  into  shape.  A 
report  was  drawn  up  by  professors  Pantaleoni  and  Monte- 
martini  ;  it  was  now  the  turn  of  the  Government  to  act. 

Lubin's  anxiety  and  impatience  knew  no  bounds.  His 
education  in  the  rights  and  privileges  of  constitutional 
monarchs  had  been  sadly  neglected,  and  it  was  hard  to  per- 
suade him  that  a  king  could  not  say  "Do",  and  it  would 
be  done;  "Go",  and  they  went.  It  took  no  small  effort 
to  make  him  realize  that  the  King  of  Italy  has  less  power 
than  the  President  of  the  United  States. 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  AN  IDEA  197 

So  restless  was  he  during  the  inevitable  weeks  of  waiting 
that  early  in  December  he  went  to  Palermo  to  await  the 
decision  in  a  climate  more  favorable  to  his  severe  bronchial 
trouble.  "But  he  could  not  stay  away  from  Rome"  (I 
quote  from  Guerrazzi's  recollections)  "and  before  Christmas 
he  was  among  us  again,  more  impatient  than  ever.  The 
days  went  by  and  still  no  answer  came ;  Lubin  was  in  despair. 
He  was  constantly  urging  me  to  seek  information  and  put 
pressure  on  influential  quarters.  So  poignant  was  his 
anxiety  that  he  would  break  through  his  usual  discretion  and 
thoughtfulness  for  others  and  drive  up  to  my  door  very  late 
at  night  to  inquire  for  the  hundredth  time  whether  I  really 
believed  that  the  initiative  would  be  taken.  And  when  I 
once  more  assured  him  that  it  could  not  fail  to  materialize, 
he  would  go  off  comforted,  and  the  next  day  a  beautiful 
flowering  plant  or  a  huge  box  of  candies  for  my  wife  and 
children  would  be  delivered  with  his  card." 

Thus  in  alternatives  of  hope  and  despondency  the  weeks 
went  by.  Lubin  spent  much  of  his  time  in  his  room,  read- 
ing the  Bible ;  then  strong  in  the  conviction  that  he  was 
working  on  lines  consonant  with  Universal  Law,  he  would 
sally  forth  to  work  for  the  idea.  I  found  myself  intrusted 
with  the  most  unlooked-for  tasks.  Lubin  would  give  me 
orders  to  see  to  it  that  a  Cabinet  meeting  was  held  by  a 
certain  date,  and  I  would  rush  off,  get  this  one  to  write, 
the  other  to  go,  and  somehow  or  other  the  thing  would  be 
done.  Luzzatti  was  the  power  behind  the  throne,  and  the 
King  himself  let  it  be  known  that  he  wished  for  a  decision. 

At  last  the  Ministers  examined  the  proposal  and  ap- 
proved of  it.  Giolitti,  then  Prime  Minister,  could  see  that 
Italy  had  nothing  to  lose  and  much  to  gain  by  placing  her- 
self at  the  head  of  a  movement  consonant  with  the  role  of 
teacher  and  moderator  in  the  international  sphere  for  which 
geographical  position,  tradition,  and  her  recent  history  have 
prepared  her. 

It  was  decided  that  the  initiative  should  take  the  form 
of  a  letter  addressed  by  Victor  Emmanuel  to  his  Prime 


198  DAVID  LUBIN 

Minister,  inviting  him  to  call  an  international  conference 
to  consider  Lubin's  proposal. 

The  last  steps  had  now  to  be  taken.  The  instructions 
to  Italy's  diplomatic  agents  in  foreign  countries,  which 
must  accompany  the  King's  letter,  had  to  be  drawn  up. 
This  task  was  intrusted  by  the  Government  to  the  Marchese 
de  Viti. 

Lubin  watched  over  every  step  with  the  anxiety  of  a 
parent  for  a  loved  child.  He  dreaded  any  delay,  and  pro- 
crastination was  characteristic  of  de  Viti.  Lubin  was  lunch- 
ing at  their  house.  He  risked  all  on  a  throw:  —  "The 
American  people  as  a  rule  do  not  look  with  favor  on  American 
women  who  marry  foreign  titles,"  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
say  to  the  Marchesa,  *'but  you  have  a  great  opportunity  to 
change  prejudice  into  approval.  It  is  in  your  power  to 
have  this  paper  delivered  within  twenty-four  hours :  this 
will  insure  the  prompt  issue  of  the  Call,  and  the  day  will  come 
when  the  American  people  will  honor  you  as  one  of  the 
pioneers  in  the  fight  for  economic  justice." 

The  Marchese  looked  up  and  asked  when  the  paper  was 
wanted.  "Let  me  have  it  to-morrow,"  Lubin  said.  On  the 
morrow  it  was  delivered.  In  the  ordinary  course  of  events 
two  or  three  months  might  easily  have  elapsed  before  de  Viti, 
absorbed  in  multifarious  occupations,  would  have  attended 
to  this  particular  piece  of  work. 

The  time  will  come  when  this  document  will  be  hunted 
up  and  studied  carefully  as  the  charter  for  progress  in  a  vital 
section  of  the  economic  field.  It  mirrors  the  vision  which 
Lubin  had  summoned  up,  which  had  struck  the  imagination 
of  the  King  and  inspired  his  Italian  collaborators. 

By  the  middle  of  January  all  was  ready,  and  the  text  of 
the  letter  which  the  King  was  to  sign  was  communicated  to 
Lubin.  It  gave  rise  to  an  incident  characteristic  of  the 
two  chief  actors  in  these  events. 

Lubin  was  a  lion  when  his  idea  was  at  stake,  but  in  personal 
matters  he  was  essentially  modest  and  retiring ;  he  believed 
himself  to  be  just  an  "ordinary  scrub",  as  he  would  phrase 


THE  ROMANCE   OF  AN  IDEA  199 

it.  The  work  was  everything,  his  personality  was  absorbed 
and  lost  in  it.  Therefore  when  he  found  that  his  name  was 
to  appear  in  the  King's  letter  he  was  seriously  disturbed. 
It  would  never  do  to  intrude  his  personality  on  the  scene; 
it  would  detract  from  the  dignity  of  a  historic  document. 
He  drove  off  with  me  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  to  the  Ministry 
of  the  Treasury  to  see  Luzzatti  and  have  his  name  removed. 
Luzzatti  listened  to  his  arguments  unconvinced,  but  said  he 
would  refer  the  matter  higher  up,  and  transmit  the  answer. 
And  the  answer  was  that  Victor  Emmanuel  thought  it  would 
detract  from  the  dignity  of  a  king  to  take  another  man's 
idea  and  not  give  him  credit  for  it!  There  was  nothing 
more  to  be  said. 

On  January  24,  1905,  exactly  three  months  to  a  day  from 
the  audience  with  the  King  at  San  Rossore,  and  three  months 
and  twenty  days  after  Lubin's  arrival  in  Rome,  the  press  of 
Italy  and  of  the  world  was  startled  by  the  publication  of  the 
following  letter : 

To  His  Excellency,  Cav.  Giovanni  Giolitti, 
President  of  the  Council  of  Ministers, 
Rome. 

Dear  President : 

A  citizen  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  David  Lubin,  ex- 
plained to  me  with  that  warmth  which  comes  from  a  sin- 
cere conviction,  an  idea  which  seemed  to  me  practical  and 
valuable  and  which,  for  that  reason,  I  recommend  to  the 
attention  of  my  Government. 

The  agricultural  classes,  generally  the  most  numerous, 
and  who  exert  everywhere  a  great  influence  on  the  destiny 
of  nations,  live  disunited  and  dispersed,  and  are  consequently 
unable  to  provide  adequately  for  the  improvement  and 
rational  distribution  of  the  various  forms  of  agricultural 
produce  and  to  safeguard  their  own  interests  on  the  markets 
which,  in  the  case  of  agriculture,  are  becoming  every  day 
more  international. 

For  this  reason  an  international  institution,  absolutely 
unpolitical  in  its  aims,  which  would  have  before  it  informa- 


200  DAVID  LUBIN 

tion  on  the  conditions  of  agriculture  in  the  different  countries 
of  the  world,  which  would  notify  periodically  the  quantity 
and  quality  of  the  crops  in  hand,  so  as  to  facilitate  their 
production  and  render  less  costly  and  more  rapid  the  trade 
in  same,  and  facilitate  the  attainment  of  a  more  favorable 
settlement  of  prices,  would  be  most  highly  beneficial. 

This  institution,  acting  in  unison  with  the  various  national 
associations  already  constituted  for  similar  purposes,  would 
also  furnish  reliable  information  as  to  the  demand  and  supply 
of  agricultural  labor  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  providing 
emigrants  with  a  safe  and  useful  guide;  it  would  promote 
those  agreements  necessary  for  collective  defence  against 
diseases  of  plants  and  live-stock  which  cannot  be  success- 
fully fought  by  means  of  partial  action ;  and  lastly,  it  would 
exercise  a  timely  influence  on  the  development  of  societies 
for  rural  cooperation,  for  agricultural  insurance,  and  for 
agrarian  credit. 

Such  an  institution,  which  would  be  an  instrument  of 
solidarity  for  all  the  components  of  the  agricultural  classes, 
and  which  would  consequently  be  a  powerful  influence  for 
peace,  would  be  capable  of  many  beneficial  developments. 
Rome  would  be  a  worthy  and  propitious  seat,  and  there 
the  representatives  of  the  various  States  adhering  to  the 
project,  and  the  representatives  of  the  principal  associations 
of  the  parties  interested,  should  meet,  so  that  the  author- 
ity of  the  various  Governments  and  the  free  energies  of  the 
tillers  of  the  soil,  may  work  harmoniously  together. 

I  have  faith  that  the  nobility  of  the  end  in  view  will  enable 
the  difl&culties  of  the  undertaking  to  be  overcome,  and  in 
this  faith  I  am  pleased  to  sign  myself  ( 

Your  affectionate  cousin, 
Victor  Emmanuel  ^ 

Lubin  became  a  seven  days'  wonder.  The  press  clamored 
for  interviews ;  fashionable  salons  were  anxious  to  exhibit 
the  lion  of  the  day.  Who  was  this  American  who  had 
fallen  like  a  bolt  from  the  blue  into  the  arena  of  world  events, 
with  a  King  standing  sponsor  to  his  idea  ? 

*  As  Knight  of  the  Order  of  the  Annunciation  Giolitti  is  entitled  to  the  com- 
plimentary title  of  "  cousin  "  of  the  King  of  Italy. 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  AN  IDEA  201 

But  if  he  had  failed  in  securing  anonymity,  Lubin  was 
determined  that  his  personality  should  remain  in  the  back- 
ground. "The  idea  could  never  have  materialized  with- 
out the  King ;  mere  ideas  are  of  little  value ;  the  credit  is 
due  not  to  me  but  to  the  King  of  Italy."  So  he  refused 
all  interviews,  frustrated  the  efforts  of  photographers,  left 
his  hotel  by  a  back  door  to  escape  the  ubiquitous  reporter, 
and  clapped  his  hat  over  his  face  when  an  intruding  kodak 
nearly  snapped  him  unawares.  He  would  talk  on  the  theme, 
but  nothing  would  induce  him  to  touch  on  the  "human  in- 
terest" side  so  dear  to  press-men. 

Those  days  were  not  without  their  humors.  I  remember 
one  very  stiff  and  starchy  representative  of  an  ultra-Tory 
and  extremely  select  London  paper  coming  to  seek  for  in- 
formation. To  Lubin  its  name  stood  for  nothing,  and  he 
suspected  "yellow"  journalism  everywhere.  "I  am  quite 
willing  to  explain  the  proposition ;  but  I  'm  not  going  to 
tell  you  when  I  first  sat  up  in  a  high  chair  or  when  I  ate  my 
first  pap." 

"If  you  knew  the  standing  of  my  paper  you  would  realize 
that  it  would  accept  no  such  trash,"  was  the  frosty  reply 
intended  to  crush  the  ignorant  Yankee. 

"That's  all  very  well,"  Lubin  went  on  serenely,  "but  this 
is  a  question  of  economics.  Now,  I  explain  it  to  you,  and 
that's  all  right;  but  you  send  in  your  'copy'  to  your  paper, 
and  how  am  I  to  know  what  sort  of  a  story  will  be  given  out  ? 
Perhaps  the  editor  will  want  it  cut  down,  and  he  calls  in 
Jones.  Now,  Jones  is  the  man  who  writes  up  the  dog-fights, 
and  you  can  imagine  what  sort  of  economics  will  be  the 
result,"  and,  utterly  unconscious  of  the  sacrilege  he  had 
committed,  Lubin  talked  on  to  a  listener  well-nigh  speech- 
less with  indignation,  who  afterwards  remarked  in  an  English 
drawing-room  that  he  didn't  think  any  the  better  of  the 
King  of  Italy  fdr  taking  up  with  that  fellow  Lubin  ! 

But  even  while  receiving  congratulations,  Lubin  realized 
that  this  first  step  must  be  immediately  followed  by  hard 
work.     Not  only  was  his  own  reputation  at  stake,  but  the 


202  DAVID  LUBIN 

dignity  of  the  King  and  Government  which  had  honored 
him  so  signally  with  their  confidence  required  that  the 
initiative  should  be  crowned  by  a  complete  diplomatic  suc- 
cess. 

The  news  he  received  from  America  showed  that  the  pro- 
posal was  meeting  with  a  hostile  reception  from  the  De- 
partment of  Agriculture.  From  a  Department  point  of 
view  Lubin  was  a  rank  outsider;  what  did  he  mean  by 
poaching  on  what  should  have  been  the  Secretary's  pre- 
serves.'* Moreover,  Secretary  Wilson  failed  to  grasp  the 
real  crux  of  the  question,  i.e.  that  the  price  of  staples  with 
a  world  market  is  a  world  price,  determined  by  a  knowledge 
of  world  conditions,  and  that,  therefore,  the  farmers  need  a 
central  world  crop-reporting  bureau.  Secondary  develop- 
ments —  by-products  of  the  proposed  international  organi- 
zation —  such  as  collective  action  against  plant  diseases, 
or  international  regulation  of  migratory  farm  labor,  were 
taken  by  him  to  be  primary,  and  as  their  value  was  dis- 
counted, the  tendency  was  to  look  askance  at  the  whole 
scheme.  In  fact.  Secretary  Wilson's  personal  antagonism 
to  Lubin  was  such  that  the  invitation  to  attend  the  confer- 
ence would  have  been  refused  had  not  Secretary  of  State 
Hay  and  President  Roosevelt  taken  the  decision  into  their 
own  hands  as  being  primarily  a  diplomatic  and  not  an  agri- 
cultural question. 

And  just  as  Lubin  had  shifted  his  primary  action  from 
Washington  to  Rome,  so  his  keen  political  instinct  told  him 
not  to  train  guns  on  Washington  but  to  win  the  support  of 
the  leading  European  countries.  If  they  rallied  to  the  flag 
unfurled  by  the  King  of  Italy  he  felt  sure  of  overcoming  an  op- 
position based  so  largely  on  misunderstanding  and  prejudice. 

Budapest,  where  he  had  formulated  the  first  vague  out- 
line of  the  idea  which  had  now  taken  shape,  and  where  he  had 
made  firm  friends  in  1896,  should  be  the  first  stage  in  his 
eflFort.  So  towards  the  end  of  February,  in  severe  winter 
weather,  his  frame  shaken  by  the  racking  cough  which  gave 
him  little  rest,  he  left  Rome. 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  AN  IDEA  203 

Central  Europe  was  well  prepared  to  grasp  the  full  signifi- 
cance of  the  King's  initiative,  for  it  was  keenly  alive  to  the 
political  as  well  as  the  economic  importance  of  the  farmer. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  essential  solidarity  of  agricultural 
interests  was  a  truth  it  failed  to  realize.  Its  own  outlook 
was  so  narrow  and  selfish  that  it  deemed  it  incredible  that 
an  American,  a  representative  (even  if  an  unofficial  one)  of 
the  farmers  of  the  great  continent  which  it  looked  upon 
only  as  a  dangerous  competitor,  against  whose  products  it 
was  ever  building  up  tariff  walls,  should  come  bearing 
genuine  gifts.  And  so  the  wiseacres  felt  sure  that  some 
deep-laid  plot  to  secure  information  as  to  European  con- 
ditions and  markets  with  a  view  to  strangling  European 
agriculture  in  the  interest  of  transatlantic  trusts  must  be 
the  motive  Lubin  concealed  behind  fair  words.  "Besides," 
said  the  anti-Semites  of  Budapest,  Vienna,  and  Berlin,  "is 
he  not  a  Jew .''    And  what  can  you  expect  of  such  ?" 

Moreover,  how  could  anything  good  hail  from  shores 
other  than  those  of  the  Fatherland?  And,  sure  enough, 
at  the  meeting  to  which  Lubin  had  been  invited  by  the 
agrarians  to  explain  his  proposal,  the  ubiquitous  German 
professor  bobbed  up  serene  with  a  claim  to  priority.  Doctor 
Charles  Ruhland,  accompanied  by  a  satellite  bearing  the 
significant  name  of  Klapper,  claimed  the  idea  as  his. 

"Tell  me,  in  what  printed  document  you  first  set  forth 
the  idea  of  an  International  Chamber  of  Agriculture  ?  "  Lubin 
inquired.     "Give  chapter,  page,  and  line,  and  we  will  see.'* 

"Everybody  knows  the  idea  is  mine,  and  anyhow  it  was 
in  the  air,  *es  war  in  der  Luft\"  came  the  reply. 

"Oh,  in  the  air,  was  it?"  Lubin  replied,  as  he  handed  a 
book,  on  which  he  had  been  sitting,  to  his  interpreter. 
"Please  read  out  of  this,  and  give  the  title,  chapter,  page, 
and  lines,"  he  said. 

He  had  procured  from  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  a  copy 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  1896  congress,  and  the  passage 
read  out  contained  his  idea  as  enunciated  in  embryo  nearly 
ten  years  before.    The  claim  of  plagiarism  was  exploded, 


204  DAVID  LUBIN 

and  with  characteristic  generosity  at  the  banquet  offered 
him  that  evening  by  men  won  over  to  warm  support,  Lubin 
hunted  out  Doctor  Ruhland  and  insisted  on  his  sharing  with 
him  the  honors  at  the  head  of  the  table. 

"Dear  Mrs.  Agresti,"  he  wrote  to  me  from  Vienna  on 
March  7th,  "it  is  all  right!  Every  one  is  enthusiastic! 
Not  only  in  Italy  and  in  Hungary,  but  also  in  Austria.  So 
you  should  be  hard  at  work,  and  so  should  the  rest  of  the 
Committee.  I  suppose  by  this  time  the  Proclamation  in  the 
three  translations  is  in  circulation.     Are  you  at  work  ?  " 

In  Vienna  he  joined  forces  with  the  two  representatives 
of  the  Italian  Committee  appointed  to  prepare  the  pro- 
gram for  the  conference.  Prince  Scipione  Borghese  and 
Professor  Giovanni  Lorenzoni. 

The  suspicions  of  Machiavellian  designs  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States  to  subvert  the  tariff  policy  of  Central 
Europe  were  dispelled  by  contact  with  Lubin,  but  he  could 
see  that  the  interpretation  the  agrarian  party  wished  to 
give  to  the  King's  initiative  was  narrow  and  selfish. 

"It  is  quite  manifest,"  Lubin  wrote  some  months  later  to 
Senator  Lodge,  "to  those  who  have  observed  the  matter 
closely  that  the  great  landed  interests  in  Central  Europe 
are  very  desirous  that  the  United  States  do  not  become  a 
part  of  the  Institute.  In  their  absence  the  Institute  is 
almost  sure  to  become  a  secret  organization,  when  the 
European  nations  will  have  the  advantage  of  obtaining  the 
information  we  freely  furnish,  which  together  with  that  to 
be  gathered  by  the  Institute  would  give  them  every  advan- 
tage over  the  United  States." 

Both  in  America  and  ip  Europe  Lubin  was  experiencing 
the  suspicion  and  the  hostility  of  the  "practical"  man. 

"What  will  it  put  into  my  pocket?  I  want  none  of  this 
'righteousness'  talk;  I'm  a  practical  man,  I  am.  What's 
there  in  it  for  me  ?"   ' 

And  Lubin  would  patiently  set  to  work  to  show  that  it 
would  benefit  the  farmer,  because  it  would  give  him  the 
knowledge  necessary  to  hold  his  own  against  the  trust; 


THE   ROMANCE  OF  AN  IDEA  205 

that  it  would  benefit  the  merchant,  because  it  would  tend  to 
minimize  price  fluctuations ;  that  it  would  benefit  labor, 
because  the  staples  of  the  farm  are  the  raw  material  of  the 
factory  and  violent  price  disturbances  endanger  the  secure 
tenor  of  his  job. 

From  Germany  Lubin  went  to  France  and  thence  to 
England.  Meantime,  Washington  learned  from  the  German 
Ambassador  that  his  country  would  be  strongly  represented 
at  the  Rome  conference.  Where  Germany  was,  France 
could  not  be  absent.  England,  although  believing  herself 
but  slightly  concerned,  would  not  say  nay  to  the  invitation 
of  the  King  of  Italy. 

In  Paris,  Lubin  called  on  the  Russian  Ambassador,  Mou- 
rawieff.  "My  boy,"  he  had  said,  slapping  the  distinguished 
diplomat  on  the  knee,  *'you  know  as  well  as  I  do  that  the 
economic  destinies  of  Russia  are  swayed  at  present  by  the 
grain  manipulators  and  that  your  government  is  powerless 
to  cope  single-handed  with  this  new  and  gigantic  evil,  the 
trust.  Russia  cannot  afford  to  be  absent  when  such  work 
is  being  undertaken."  And  the  Ambassador,  surprised  and 
impressed,  had  written  Lubin  an  emphatic  indorsement  of 
the  idea  and  had  undertaken  to  urge  his  Government  to  be 
properly  represented. 

Lubin's  plan  of  action  justified  itself ;  the  Department  of 
State  decided  to  be  represented,  selecting  as  its  delegates 
Mr.  Henry  White,  then  American  Ambassador  in  Rome, 
Doctor  A.  Wood,  a  plant  pathologist  sent  by  the  Department 
of  Agriculture,  and  Mr.  William  F.  Hill,  Master  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania State  Grange,  who  came  as  the  representative  of 
the  American  farmers. 

Lubin  was  ignored.  In  one  sense  this  was  right,  as  he 
could  not  be  judge  and  jury  to  pass  on  his  own  idea. 

On  May  25,  1905,  seven  months  from  the  date  on  which 
David  Lubin  had  first  reached  Rome,  the  representatives 
of  forty  nations  assembled  in  the  Eternal  City  to  judge  of 
the  idea  which  this  American  citizen  had  placed  before  the 
King  of  Italy. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   INTERNATIONAL   INSTITUTE   OF  AGRICULTURE 

When,  on  the  20th  of  May,  1905,  the  delegations  of  the 
forty  governments  represented  at  the  conference  settled 
down  to  their  task  in  Palazzo  Corsini,  great  uncertainty 
mingled  with  much  skepticism  prevailed  among  them. 

Not  only  was  David  Lubin  absent  from  the  sittings,  but 
the  little  group  of  pioneers  which  had  worked  with  such  ardor 
to  get  the  idea  into  shape  had  not  been  called  to  complete 
its  task.  At  the  last  moment  Professor  Pantaleoni's  name 
was  added  to  the  list  of  the  Italian  delegation,  but  he 
was  in  a  minority  of  one. 

The  usual  thing  had  occurred.  The  daring  which  leads 
to  victory  had  given  place  to  timidity ;  devotion  to  an  idea 
to  considerations  of  place  and  person.  The  bigwigs  of 
official  agriculture,  the  same  who  had  turned  down  Lubin 
whenever  he  had  approached  them  tentatively  prior  to  the 
publication  of  the  King's  letter,  recovering  from  their  first 
speechless  astonishment  at  the  whole  proceeding,  now  rushed 
in,  determined  to  "save"  the  King  from  the  consequences 
of  the  wild  excursion  through  the  realm  of  idealistic  novelty 
into  which,  in  their  opinion,  he  had  been  rashly  allowed  to 
adventure.     The  "grocery  man"  was  to  have  his  innings. 

The  guiding  of  the  labors  of  the  conference,  instead  of 
being  in  the  hands  of  such  practical  idealists  as  Luzzatti, 
Montemartini,  Pantaleoni,  de  Viti  de  Marco,  and  others  who 
could  all  point  to  solid  achievement  in  public  finance,  in 
science,  in  organization,  and  in  economics,  was  intrusted  to 
the  jnediocrity  of  titled  parliamentarians,  accustomed  to  see 
their  names  on  the  membership  of  royal  commissions,  parlia- 
mentary inquiries,  and  decorative  official  associations.  All 
were  there 


INSTITUTE  OF  AGRICULTURE  207 

"  to  scramble  at  the  feast, 
and  shove  away  the  worthy  bidden  guest." 

The  foreign  delegations  were  preponderatingly  diplomatic, 
each  headed  by  its  Ambassador ;  nevertheless,  many  leading 
experts  on  agricultural  matters  were  present,  and  the  Ger- 
man, Austrian,  and  Hungarian  delegations  counted  among 
their  members  the  leading  exponents  of  their  agrarian  parties, 
and  some  of  the  foremost  authorities  in  the  field  of  agri- 
cultural cooperation  and  organization. 

Undoubtedly,  the  perfunctory  character  of  the  American 
delegation  and  the  tepid  support  given  by  Washington  went 
far  to  endanger  the  success  of  the  whole  effort.  Still,  the 
diplomatic  element,  of  which  Ambassador  White,  who 
headed  the  United  States  delegation,  was  a  prominent  repre- 
sentative, while  little  comprehending  or  caring  for  the 
scheme,  looked  at  it  from  a  political  standpoint  and  saved 
the  day. 

The  meeting  had  been  called  by  the  King  of  Italy;  the 
purpose  if  not  valuable  was  certainly  innocuous ;  agriculture 
is  neither  disarmament  nor  revolution;  it  is  a  subject  to 
which  all  feel  bound  to  pay  lip-homage ;  and  so  long  as  it 
was  clearly  understood  that  no  inroads  were  to  be  made  on 
national  sovereignty  rights,  it  was  desirable  that  the  ini- 
tiative should  be  crowned  with  a  diplomatic  success. 

Venturing  on  the  untried  ground  of  international  action, 
the  conference  proceeded  by  way  of  exclusion.  The  first 
anxiety  of  the  agrarian  parties  was  to  make  sure  that  the 
future  body  would  lay  no  claim  to  interfere  with  tariff  legis- 
lation. Then  they  saw  a  possible  danger  for  themselves  in 
international  action  for  the  control  of  diseases  of  animals 
which  might  hinder  their  policy  of  supplementing  the  tariff 
by  exclusions  on  the  pretext  of  trichinosis.  The  big  land- 
owning interests  were  likewise  determined  that  the  function 
of  guiding  the  migratory  currents  of  farm  labor  —  a  pro- 
posal to  which  the  Italian  and  some  of  the  South  American 
delegations  attached  special  importance  —  should  not  be  one 
of  the  duties  of  the  new  organ.     These  points  were  settled 


208  DAVID  LUBIN 

to  their  satisfaction.  As  we  have  seen,  it  had  been  no  part 
of  the  original  intent  to  encroach  in  any  wise  on  national 
sovereignty  rights,  and  fears  on  this  head  were  set  at  rest 
by  the  formula:  "All  questions  concerning  the  economic 
interests,  the  legislation,  and  the  administration  of  a  partic- 
ular nation  shall  be  excluded  from  the  consideration  of  the 
Institute." 

But  the  real  struggle  took  place  over  the  nature  of  the 
proposed  organization.  In  the  intention  of  the  founders 
it  was  to  be  neither  an  academy,  nor  a  bureau,  nor  a  legis- 
lative body.  It  was  to  be  for  agriculture  very  much  what  the 
Chambers  of  Commerce  are  for  trade  —  a  deliberative  and 
consultative  body  in  permanent  session ;  which  might  be 
expected  to  give  rise  to  many  autonomous  developments  — 
such,  for  instance,  as  the  produce  exchanges  referred  to  in 
the  previous  chapter  —  the  outcome  of  an  organ  which  was 
to  focus,  coordinate,  and  discipline  the  activities  of  the 
agricultural  world. 

In  the  writings  he  circulated,  Lubin,  as  we  have  seen, 
advocated  a  permanent,  semi-official  Chamber,  consisting 
of  an  upper  and  a  lower  house.  Central  Europe  wanted  to 
see  the  future  organ  in  the  hands  of  the  agrarians  and  ad- 
vocated a  body  elected  by  the  agricultural  associations,  act- 
ing independently  of  governments  and  aiming  mainly  at 
organizing  the  agrarian  as  opposed  to  industrial  and  labor 
interests.  The  Italians  favored  one  house,  consisting  both 
of  elected  delegates  and  government  representatives,  but  as 
to  its  duties  they  were  decidedly  vague. 

These  various  views  had  been  more  or  less  fully  discussed 
in  the  preparatory  period  and  the  assumption  was  that  a 
compromise  would  be  reached  along  these  lines.  But  now 
the  French,  who  had  taken  little  or  no  part  in  preliminary 
discussions,  came  forward  with  a  clear-cut  plan  of  their 
own. 

France  was  at  that  time  bitterly  divided  by  the  aftermath 
of  the  famous  Dreyfus  "affair"  and  by  fierce  controversies 
over  the  separation  of  Church  and  State.     The  internal 


I 


INSTITUTE  OF  AGRICULTURE  209 

political  situation  made  that  government  resolutely  hostile 
to  the  creation  of  any  body  which  would  confer  prestige  and 
authority  on  representatives  of  free  agricultural  associations. 
No  one  must  be  entitled  to  speak  for  French  agriculture  but 
the  French  government,  and  the  new  institution  must  either 
be  exclusively  a  government  institution  or  not  be  at  all,  at 
least  so  far  as  France  was  concerned.  On  this  point  the 
French  delegation  was  unanimous  and  uncompromising, 
as  against  the  Italian  delegation  which  was  half-hearted, 
and  others  quite  willing  to  side  in  with  whoever  would  pro- 
pose a  solution  likely  to  bring  the  proceedings  to  a  decorous 
close,  giving  nominal  satisfaction  to  the  Royal  Initiator, 
while  at  the  same  time  committing  their  governments  to 
nothing  rash. 

This  point  of  view  coincided  with  the  instructions  on  which 
the  American  delegation  was  acting,  and  soon  the  French 
rallied  to  their  side  a  majority  in  the  conference.  The 
only  stiff  opposition  came  from  the  Central  Empires,  un- 
willing to  see  international  bureaucracy  interfere  in  the  field 
of  agricultural  organization.  They  made  a  hard  fight, 
threatening  to  withdraw  when  they  saw  that  their  views 
would  be  defeated.  But  here  again  the  diplomatic  character 
of  the  conference  saved  the  day.  The  Ambassadors  of  the 
Central  Empires  could  see  that  it  would  never  do  for  the 
Powers  of  the  Triple  Alliance  to  defeat  a  proposal  sponsored 
by  the  King  of  Italy,  and  their  delegations  reluctantly  as- 
sented to  Article  2  of  the  protocol : 

"The  International  Institute  of  Agriculture  is  to  be  a 
government  institution  in  which  each  adhering  power  shall 
be  represented  by  delegates  of  its  choice." 

The  "two  houses"  idea  was  finally  modified  into  that 
of  a  Permanent  Committee,  on  which  each  adhering  govern- 
ment should  be  represented  by  one  delegate  of  its  choice, 
intrusted  with  the  executive  power  of  the  Institute,  acting 
under  the  direction  and  control  of  a  General  Assembly. 
This  Assembly,  meeting  at  stated  intervals,  would  consist 
likewise  of  government  appointees,  but  it  was  pointed  out 


210  DAVID  LUBIN 

to  the  delegations  favoring  representation  of  the  agricul- 
tural associations  that  nothing  prevented  their  governments 
from  choosing  delegates  from  among  such  associations.  The 
number  of  representatives  which  each  government  might 
send  to  the  General  Assembly  was  not  fixed,  but  whatever 
their  number,  each  nation  would  only  be  entitled  to  a  number 
of  votes  determined  by  the  group  to  which  it  belonged  — 
five  votes  for  the  governments  entering  the  first  group  and 
paying  sixteen  units  of  assessment;  four  for  those  in  the 
second  group  paying  eight  units,  three  for  those  in  the  third 
paying  four  units;  two  for  those  in  the  fourth  paying  two 
units ;  and  one  for  those  in  the  fifth  paying  one  unit  of  assess- 
ment. 

When  agreement  had  been  reached  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  Institute  and  as  to  what  it  was  not  to  do,  the  functions 
to  be  intrusted  to  it  were  soon  settled.  All  agreed  that  its 
main  activity  should  be  statistical  and  informative  : 

"Collect,  study,  and  publish,  as  promptly  as  possible, 
statistical,  technical  or  economic  information  concerning 
farming,  the  trade  in  agricultural  products,  and  the  prices 
prevailing  in  the  various  markets.  Communicate  to  parties 
interested,  also  as  promptly  as  possible,  all  the  information 
just  referred  to." 

Besides  this  it  was  to : 

"Indicate  the  wages  paid  for  farm  labor;  make  known 
new  plant  diseases  appearing  in  any  part  of  the  world,  show- 
ing the  territories  infected,  the  progress  of  the  disease,  and, 
if  possible,  the  remedies  effective  for  its  control ;  study 
questions  concerning  agricultural  cooperation,  insurance, 
and  credit  in  all  their  aspects ;  collect  and  pubUsh  informa- 
tion which  might  be  useful  in  the  various  countries  in  the 
organization  of  works  connected  therewith." 

The  final  clause  of  this  Article  9  of  the  protocol  conferred 
on  the  new  body  power  to  "  submit  to  the  approval  of  govern- 
ments measures  for  the  protection  of  the  common  interests 
of  farmers  and  for  the  improvement  of  their  condition." 

Thus,  amid  the  indifference  of  the  public,  and  the  dif- 


INSTITUTE  OF  AGRICULTURE  211 

fidence  of  governments  and  agricultural  associations,  arose 
an  institution  which  was  very  truly  a  new  departure  in  inter- 
national life,  a  pioneer  in  the  field  of  world  organization. 
That  those  who  created  it  failed  to  recognize  the  significance 
of  the  decisions  to  which  they  had  come  is,  however,  patent 
from  the  total  inadequacy  of  the  means  with  which  they  en- 
dowed it.  Compromising  even  the  future,  they  laid  down 
in  an  Article  of  the  protocol  that  "in  no  event  shall  the  con- 
tribution due  per  unit  of  assessment  ever  exceed  a  maximum 
of  twenty-five  hundred  francs." 

Yet  even  when  whittled  down  and  shorn  of  many  of  the 
more  striking  features  which  Lubin  had  in  mind,  this  Inter- 
national Institute  of  Agriculture  —  as  it  was  oflficially 
christened  by  the  conference  —  differed  essentially  from  all 
previous  international  bodies.  It  was  no  mere  scientific 
bureau ;  it  was  no  occasional  conference ;  it  was  totally 
different  from  the  international  congresses  which  meet  to 
pass  resolutions  and  then  disperse,  leaving  no  one  to  see  that 
their  recommendations  are  carried  out.  Nor  was  it,  as 
many  of  the  pioneers  feared,  a  mere  organ  of  international 
bureaucracy.  The  representatives  of  all  the  adhering 
governments  were  brought  together  in  a  permanent,  de- 
liberative body,  in  direct  touch  with  the  governments  from 
which  they  emanated;  while  the  Assembly  provided  the 
means  of  keeping  this  Permanent  Committee  in  contact 
with,  and  under  the  control  of  the  living  agricultural  forces 
of  a  country,  provided  the  farmers  woke  up  to  the  importance 
of  the  Institute  and  brought  the  necessary  pressure  to  bear 
on  their  home  governments. 

Moreover,  the  Institute  was  to  act  not  only  as  an  inter- 
national crop-reporting  bureau,  but  it  was  recognized  as 
the  legitimate  organ  through  which  the  agricultural  in- 
terests in  each  country  could  voice  their  wishes  in  the  inter- 
national sphere,  and  it  was  empowered  to  formulate  them  as 
draft  conventions  and  to  submit  them  to  the  several  govern- 
ments for  approval. 

In  fact,  we  have  here  the  first  attempt  in  history  to  create 


212  DAVID  LUBIN 

an  international  parliamentary  body.  The  protocol  signed 
by  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  forty  governments  repre- 
sented at  the  conference  on  the  seventh  of  June  one 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  five  may  properly  claim  to  be  a 
historic  document,  for  it  created  the  first  League  of  Nations, 
a  League  of  Nations  for  economic  betterment. 

But  what  of  David  Lubin  during  these  weeks  when  the 
success  or  failure  of  his  life-work  hung  in  the  balance  ?  He 
had  returned  to  Rome  about  the  middle  of  May.  His  posi- 
tion was  somewhat  anomalous.  His  Government  evidently 
intended  to  ignore  him,  yet  the  letter  of  the  King  of  Italy 
left  no  doubt  that  the  nations  of  the  world  had  assembled  to 
discuss  Lubin's  idea,  and  the  natural  thing  seemed  to  be  to 
find  out  from  him  what  it  was  all  about.  Moreover,  when 
it  was  known  that  the  membership  of  the  conference  would 
be  predominatingly  diplomatic,  the  recently  formed  Unione 
Agraria,  of  which  a  great  landowner.  Prince  d'Antuni,  was 
president,  decided  to  call  a  conference  of  the  representatives 
of  agricultural  associations  to  meet  in  Rome  so  as  to  submit 
their  views  for  the  consideration  of  the  official  conference. 
This  was  done,  and  the  number  and  authority  of  the  men  who 
attended  the  meetings  in  the  Palazzo  Ruspoli  conferred  no 
small  importance  on  their  deliberations,  which  favored  ac- 
tion along  the  lines  Lubin  had  advocated.  Besides  this,  the 
member  of  the  American  delegation  who  represented  the 
farmers,  Mr.  William  F.  Hill,  Master  of  the  Pennsylvania 
State  Grange,  appointed  at  the  eleventh  hour  as  the  result 
of  resolutions  indorsing  the  initiative  passed  by  the  National 
Grange  and  by  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  naturally 
gravitated  towards  Lubin,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  for 
long  years  been  prominent  among  the  patrons  of  husbandry. 

Had  personal  ambition  been  an  ingredient  in  Lubin*s 
make-up  he  would  then  have  asserted  his  powerful  per- 
sonality. He  would  have  shown  resentment  at  the  way  he 
was  set  aside  and  ignored,  and  stood  up  as  a  champion  of 
an  influential  minority,  a  minority  which  was,  in  fact,  a 
large  majority.     Had  he  done  this,  he  could  have  had  any 


INSTITUTE  OF  AGRICULTURE  213 

amount  of  publicity ;  he  could  have  counted  on  a  powerful 
following ;  his  views  would  have  been  widely  discussed  and 
applauded.  In  fact,  it  was  the  lack  of  such  "human  in- 
terest" as  his  personal  action  at  this  juncture  would  have 
supplied  which  had  deprived  the  initiative  of  the  attention 
it  would  otherwise  have  received. 

It  was  a  real  disappointment  to  many  of  his  stanchest 
friends  and  supporters  that  he  declined  to  take  up  this 
attitude,  for  they  believed  that  militancy  on  his  part  would 
have  won  victory  for  a  policy  of  dynamic  action.  And  such 
a  militant  attitude  would  have  been  natural  to  Lubin,  who 
was  a  born  fighter.     But  he  was  adamant. 

The  King,  by  mentioning  his  name,  had  placed  him 
under  a  sacred  obligation.  By  no  action  of  his  must 
he  lay  himself  open  to  the  charge  of  using  the  honor  as  a 
means  of  self-advertisement.  He  felt  that  in  a  certain 
measure  the  dignity  of  a  nation  and  of  its  Chief  Executive 
was  in  his  keeping,  and  it  was  in  safe  hands.  This  was  the 
paramount  consideration  which  made  him  detennined  to 
lend  himself  to  no  noisy  opposition.  He  would  remain 
strictly  in  the  background,  promoting  the  work  by  all  means 
in  his  power,  but  never  obtruding  his  personality. 

Already,  in  the  early  days  after  the  proclamation,  he  had 
written  seeking  advice  of  his  Roman  friends : 

"My  sole  aim  is  so  to  shape  my  course  as  to  have  whatever 
I  do  serve  the  best  ends  of  your  noble  King,  the  honor  of 
your  country  and  the  promotion  of  the  high  ends  we  all 
have  in  view.  What  puzzles  me  is  this :  if  I  display  activity 
in  the  work  something  within  me  seems  to  say  'Is  it  right 
for  you  to  court  prominence  in  this  work  after  the  high 
prominence  given  you  by  the  chivalrous  action  of  H.  M.  the 
King?'  Again,  were  I  to  sit  down  and  do  nothing,  the 
thought  would  surely  come  to  me :  '  You  are  a  concrete 
sample  of  the  ungrateful  and  the  lazy.  Can  you  fold 
your  arms  in  idleness  when  there  is  so  much  work  to 
do?'"  He  would  do  the  work,  but  he  would  avoid  the 
notoriety. 


214  DAVID  LUBIN 

Moreover,  Lubin  had  the  long-range  vision  of  the  real 
statesman.  For  all  his  volcanic  energy  no  one  realized 
better  than  he  the  magnitude  of  the  work  he  had  set  going, 
a  work  which  would  now  be  shipwrecked  by  impatience. 
Where  others  saw  failure,  he  saw  the  tiny  seed  which  with 
careful  husbandry  might  grow  into  a  fruitful  and  wide- 
spreading  tree. 

So  he  sat  in  his  room  in  the  Hotel  Pincio  waiting  for  news, 
and  those  who  wished  to  see  him  had  to  seek  him  out.  And 
they  were  many. 

On  his  arrival  in  Rome  the  Italian  Minister  of  Agricul- 
ture, Luigi  Rava,  whom  Lubin  had  approached  in  vain  seven 
months  before,  called  oflBcially  on  the  man  whom  the  King 
"delighted  to  honor."  He  spoke  no  English  and  Lubin 
spoke  nothing  else,  and  I  was  not  present.  Lubin  sent  for 
the  hotel  porter  as  interpreter,  made  him  sit  down  between 
them,  and,  democratic  fashion,  offered  him  and  the  Minister 
cigars.  I  well  remember  the  look  of  relief  with  which  His 
Excellency  saw  me  enter  the  room  a  few  minutes  later  and 
relieve  him  from  what  he  evidently  felt  was  an  embarrassing 
position.  On  another  occasion  it  was  the  British  delegation 
—  the  Earl  of  Jersey,  Lord  Minto,  Sir  Edward  Buck  and  Sir 
Thomas  Elliott  —  to  whom  Lubin  explained  his  views,  using, 
I  remember,  to  their  evident  surprise,  a  waste-paper  basket, 
which  he  placed  on  the  table,  and  the  several  squares  on  the 
carpet  to  which  he  kept  pointing,  to  illustrate  his  point.  The 
squares  were  the  several  nations,  the  basket  the  Institute 
into  which  they  threw  their  crop-reporting  information,  and 
which  gave  it  forth  in  summarized  form  to  the  world.  Lubin 
never  liked  dealing  in  generalities ;  his  mind  refused  to  grasp 
them  and  craved  for  the  concrete,  Arizona,  *'This-er  ", 
"What-er",  "That-er"  mode  of  reasoning.  With  the 
help  of  a  rough  diagram  or  an  actual  object  to  which  he  could 
give  a  name,  he  would  explain  in  kindergarten  fashion  the 
idea  he  had  in  mind  and  make  it  so  clear  that  he  could  not 
be  mistaken.  "You  never  can  tell  what  an  Englishman  is 
thinking ;  he  just  sits  and  listens  and  leaves  you  wondering 


INSTITUTE  OF  AGRICULTURE  215 

whether  he  has  understood  or  not,"  Lubin  commented,  after 
the  British  had  left. 

Disappointment  and  discouragement  had  no  part  in  him. 
If  surprise  were  expressed  at  the  scant  interest  taken  by  the 
press  in  a  conference  of  such  import  he  would  say,  "Yes,  it 
is  much  easier  to  interest  the  public  in  a  dog-fight  than  in  a 
vital  economic  question,  but  then  the  dog-fight  is  soon  for- 
gotten." If  diflBculties  were  made  much  of,  he  would  say, 
"Of  course  all  worth-while  things  are  difficult.  It  is  easy 
enough  to  proclaim  'Hear  ye,  hear  ye,  hear  ye:  to-day  is 
Monday  the  4th  of  June,  1905.'  Such  a  proclamation  will 
be  true,  and  it  will  be  easy ;  but  there  will  be  no  merit  in  it." 
And  to  those  who  expressed  disappointment  with  results, 
he  would  tell  a  tale  of  two  Russian  moujiks  who  visit  St. 
Petersburg  and  stand  open-mouthed  before  the  cannon  in 
front  of  the  Winter  Palace,  wondering  how  they  are  made. 
At  last  one  of  them,  scratching  his  head  reflectively,  says : 
"I  think  I  know  how  it's  done.  They  take  a  hole  and  put 
iron  round  it."  "Well,"  Lubin  would  say,  "that's  just 
what  we  must  do.  We  must  take  a  hole  and  put  iron  round 
it.     It  is  up  to  us  to  build  this  Institute." 

He  took  up  the  program  of  work  laid  down  by  the 
Treaty.  Much  of  the  original  proposal  had  been  eliminated, 
but  what  he  had  always  insisted  should  be  its  central  func- 
tion remained.  The  Treaty  provided  for  an  intelligence 
office  for  gathering  and  disseminating  crop-reporting  and 
statistical  data  "as  rapidly  as  possible",  an  expression  liable 
to  as  many  interpretations  as  there  were  points  of  view. 
Should  the  static  interpretation  be  adopted,  it  would  mean 
just  one  more  bureau  publishing  red  books  and  green  books 
and  blue  books,  which  would  in  due  time  find  their  way  to 
the  paper  mill.  But  if  the  interpretation  were  dynamic, 
then  a  live  crop-reporting  center  would  be  established  in 
Rome  under  the  auspices  of  all  the  adhering  governments, 
in  constant  telegraphic  communication  with  the  producing 
and  marketing  centers  of  the  world,  giving  out  data  of  com- 
mercial, price-fixing  value. 


216  DAVID  LUBIN 

It  was  toward  the  realization  of  such  a  service  that  Lubin 
concentrated  all  his  energies  during  the  ensuing  months. 

Writing  to  Professor  Pantaleoni  on  February  7,  1906,  he 
thus  outlines  the  policy  to  be  followed : 

There  should  be  no  wild  rush  to  dabble  in  multiform 
directions ;  for  the  statistical  labor,  if  properly  performed, 
will  be  quite  suflBcient.  But  I  by  no  means  refer  to  a  mere 
heaping  up  of  figures  which,  when  on  good  paper,  is  mainly 
sought  after  by  the  "old  junk  man."  What  I  mean  are 
figures  valuable  enough  to  tempt  the  thief  to  steal  them 
and  the  rogue  to  buy  them. 

If  the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture  can  produce 
figures  sufficiently  valuable  to  stand  that  test,  there  will  be 
sufficient  reason  why  it  will  live  and  develop,  but  if  it  only 
adds  stuff  for  the  "old  junk  man"  it  will  only  be  permitted 
to  do  so  for  a  very  short  time. 

It  must  necessarily  be  the  case  that  up  to  the  present  time 
the  adherence  of  the  nations  is  largely  given  as  a  matter  of 
courtesy  at  the  request  of  your  King,  or  as  a  matter  of  curi- 
osity. Let  the  Institute  simply  gather  up  useless  information 
at  high  cost  and  the  courtesy  and  the  curiosity  will  cease  at 
short  order.  But  let  it  prove  to  be  a  benefit,  let  it  pay 
twenty-fold  for  the  outlay,  and  the  nations  will  be  quite 
anxious  to  continue  and  strengthen  it. 

If  Italy  should  be  fortunate  enough  to  guide  this  work 
in  the  proper  direction,  in  the  direction  of  greatest  potential 
and  practical  gain  not  alone  for  herself  but  for  all  the  nations 
that  have  signed,  —  if  Italy  can  do  this  she  takes  her  place, 
with  one  bound,  among  the  very  few  of  the  directing  powers 
in  the  history  of  the  world,  and  will  hold  her  place  thus  so 
long  as  she  performs  this  high  duty  in  an  acceptable  manner. 

Whence  in  olden  times  the  Law  went  forth  for  a  world ; 
whence,  after  that,  Religion  was  militantly  promulgated; 
thence  shall  go  forth  the  fiat  which  shall  decide  the  just 
measure  for  Service  among  Men. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

DAVID    LUBIN   THE   PROPAGANDIST 

For  the  next  three  years,  until  the  Institute  opened  its 
doors  for  the  organizing  session,  David  Lubin  became  its 
peripatetic  apostle.  Officially  the  work  of  securing  ratifi- 
cation of  the  Treaty  of  June  5,  1905,  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Italian  Royal  Commission  presided  over  by  Count  Eugenio 
Faina.  But  Lubin  well  knew  that  perfunctory  diplomatic 
action  would  not  secure  support  for  an  idea  which  had  to 
overcome  the  indifference  of  the  many,  the  prejudice  of  the 
conservative,  the  active  but  hidden  opposition  of  "special 
interests." 

During  the  next  few  months  David  Lubin  fixed  his  head- 
quarters in  Malvern,  England,  where  he  was  joined  by  his 
wife  and  three  young  children,  —  Dorothy,  Grace,  and 
Teddy.  From  this  rural  retreat  he  worked  night  and  day, 
elaborating  his  ideas  in  a  series  of  letters,  copies  of  which  he 
would  send  to  an  ever  growing  circle  of  correspondents. 
Lubin  found  writing  real,  hard  work ;  he  was  not  ready  with 
his  pen ;  and  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  he  was  an  in- 
novator, treading  on  untried  ground,  wrestling  with  grave 
problems  in  economics  which  he  was  examining  from  a  new 
angle  of  vision. 

The  following  letter  to  Doctor  Bernat,  Secretary  of  the 
powerful  Hungarian  Agricultural  Association,  Magyar  Gaz- 
daszovetseg,  is  a  sample  of  these  propaganda  letters. 

Marlborough  House,  Malvern,  England, 

Nov.  26th,  1905. 
Dear  Dr.  Bernat : 

I  have  your  letter  of  Nov.  24th  as  well  as  the  letter  you 
sent  me  some  time  ago,  and  I  will  now  reply  to  both. 


218  DAVID   LUBIN 

I  confess  that  there  was  much  cause  for  disappointment 
in  your  previous  letter.  When  I  was  in  Budapest  and  in 
Vienna  there  was  great  enthusiasm  for  the  proposed  Inter- 
national Institute  of  Agriculture;  especially  so  among  the 
Hungarians,  but  almost  as  short  a  time  as  it  took  to  arouse 
enthusiasm  it  took  to  dissipate  every  trace  of  it  away.  This 
is  contrary  to  my  experience  in  England :  here  it  was  with 
the  utmost  difficulty  that  the  idea  could  be  made  to  take 
root,  but  as  soon  as  it  did  take  root  it  came  to  "stay." 

But  has  not  Hungary  as  much  at  stake  in  her  agricultural 
interests  as  England  has.f*  Surely.  Then  why  this  dif- 
ference ? 

You  tried  to  explain  it  in  your  last  letter  by  saying  that 
because  the  Rome  Conference  was  not  conducted  on  the  lines 
laid  down  by  the  meeting  at  Vienna  the  Hungarians  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

Now,  let  us  see  how  your  conclusions  will  stand  the  test 
of  logic. 

First  of  all,  the  Rome  Conference  was  called  by  H.  M.  the 
King  of  Italy,  and  the  delegates  were  the  high  representatives 
of  the  various  governments.  How,  then,  was  it  possible  for 
private  individuals  to  intrude  their  will  on  the  "floor"  of 
that  Conference  .5* 

"But,"  say  you,  "that  does  not  matter;  just  so  long  as 
the  Conference  refuses  to  accept  the  ideas  of  our  association 
we  will  refuse  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it." 

Well,  what  else  will  you  do  ? 

"We  will  set  up  an  international  institute  ourselves." 

But  is  this  practicable.'*  Can  you  get  another  king  to 
make  another  proclamation,  call  another  international 
conference?  Certainly  not.  But  even  if  you  could,  what 
guarantee  would  you  have  that  just  the  ideas  of  your  asso- 
ciation would  be  adopted  ? 

"But  we  can  create  an  international  institution  com- 
posed of  private  agricultural  associations,  can  we  not  ?  " 

But  of  what  value  would  such  an  organization  he?  Of 
no  more  practical  value  than  evaporated  naphtha  would  be 
in  running  a  motor-car. 

"Well,  if  we  cannot  have  our  way  then  we  will  not  favor 
any  other  way." 


DAVm  LUBESr  THE  PROPAGANDIST       219 

No  one  can  compel  you ;  but  that  need  not  prevent  the 
other  way  from  being  adopted,  notwithstanding.  And 
would  it  be  fortunate  for  your  country  if  that  were  to  be  the 
case?  And  it  is  quite  likely  to  be  the  case;  for  Hungary 
will  either  join  as  a  pioneer  country  among  the  first,  or  it 
will  join  as  the  "tail  end",  among  the  last.  Which  shall  it 
be?  Please  remember  that  the  idea  of  international  action 
was  presented  by  me  at  Budapest  first,  at  the  International 
Agricultural  Congress  in  1896,  and  shall  Hungary  be  the 
last  to  join  this  Institute  now,  when  it  seems  almost  sure  to 
be  materialized  ?  .  .  . 

It  is  true  that  the  Conference  narrowed  the  outline  of  the 
work  of  the  Institute,  but  it  is  not  true  that  the  Institute 
must,  therefore,  work  on  those  narrow  lines  for  all  time  to 
come  !  The  farmers  of  the  world  ;  the  changing  conditions 
which  the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture  will  bring 
about ;  all  these  will  tend  toward  necessary  modifications  of 
the  original  outline,  and  to  much  better  advantage  than  if 
more  radical  lines  had  been  agreed  upon  at  the  outset. 

What  I  most  regret  is  this :  that  I  was  unable  to  have 
the  interview  with  His  Excellency,  Ignace  Daranye,  at  the 
time  I  was  in  Budapest.  You  remember  that  he  was  sud- 
denly called  to  Vienna.  Had  our  interview  been  held  I  am 
sure  that  Hungary  would  have  been  among  the  first  nations 
to  join.  But  it  is  by  no  means  too  late  now.  Hungary  can 
still  hold  a  pioneer  rank  in  the  work,  provided  not  a  single 
day  is  lost.  And  now,  in  order  to  make  a  beginning,  I  ask 
you  to  send  me  a  list  of  the  flour-milling  concerns  of  Hungary 
and  of  Austria.  If  the  Institute  is  to  be  of  value  to  the 
cotton  spinners,  it  will  for  the  very  same  reason  be  of  benefit 
to  the  flour-milling  industry,  so  the  intention  is  to  bring  them 
in  as  soon  as  possible.  Perhaps  they  are  federated,  and  then 
it  will  be  easier  to  reach  them. 

Should  you  desire  it  I  will  be  glad  to  send  you  other  docu- 
ments on  the  Institute  and  give  you  any  information  in 
my  power. 

In  closing  this  letter  I  would  say  that  the  realization  of 
the  Institute  is  now  an  assured  probability,  and  I  feel  it 
very  much  that  Hungary  has  so  far  left  itself  out  in  the  cold. 
So  come  in  with  a  rush,  but  come  in  to  "stay. " 


£20  DAVID  LUBIN 

With  my  kind  regards  to  His  Excellency,  the  Minister 
of  Agriculture  (Ignace  Daranye),  and  hoping  to  hear  the 
good  news  that  Hungary  has  been  the  very  next  nation  to 
sign  adherence,  I  am. 

Yours  very  truly, 

David  Lubin. 

Hungary  did  come  in,  and  the  first  person  to  whom  Minister 
Daranye  telegraphed  the  news  was  Mr.  Lubin.  But  this 
adherence  was  only  secured  after  a  long  struggle  in  the  course 
of  which  Lubin,  in  June,  1907,  again  went  to  Vienna,  this 
time  accompanied  by  Guerrazzi.  The  International  Con- 
gress of  Agriculture  was  meeting  in  that  city,  and  the  Bund 
der  Landwirther  of  Berlin,  backed  by  the  Austrian  and 
Hungarian  agrarians  whose  views  had  been  turned  down  by 
the  Rome  Conference,  had  prepared  very  unfavorable  re- 
ports on  the  proposed  Institute,  reports  which,  if  indorsed 
by  the  Congress,  would  have  had  a  most  injurious  effect. 
The  Royal  Commission  in  Rome,  absorbed  in  building  the 
future  seat  of  the  Institute,  never  seemed  to  realize  the  need 
for  that  active  propaganda  which  alone  can  make  a  success 
of  an  idea.  It  assumed  that  it  was  beneath  the  dignity  of 
governments  to  trouble  to  enlighten  the  "man  in  the  street." 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  assiduous  labors  of  Lubin,  which 
were  tolerated  rather  than  encouraged,  no  effort  to  secure 
ratifications  would  have  been  made  beyond  purely  official 
action  through  diplomatic  channels,  that  is  to  say  through 
the  very  channels  which  could  be  least  expected  to  under- 
stand or  care  about  the  proposal.  This  inaction  brought 
Lubin  almost  to  the  verge  of  despair. 

"If  Italy  had  but  half  a  dozen  heroic  helpers  in  behalf  of 
this  work,  it  would  bring  victory ;  it  would  bring  your  King 
the  highest  historic  renown,  and  the  most  lasting  glory  to 
your  nation.  Has  Italy  such  men?  .  .  .  The  King  has 
done  his  share  of  the  work,  but  where  are  the  leaders  who 
should  do  theirs?"  he  wrote  to  the  Marchese  de  Viti  de 
Marco  in  one  of  these  fits  of  depression.     But  he  would 


DAVID  LUBIN  THE  PROPAGANDIST       221 

quickly  recover,  and  again  set  to  work  to  "take  a  hole  and 
put  iron  round  it." 

To  Prince  Galitzin,  the  Russian  Ambassador  in  Rome,  who 
had  expressed  surprise  at  the  total  neglect  of  publicity, 
Lubin  writes : 

There  may  be  good  reasons  for  all  this,  but  what  they  are 
I  do  not  Imow.  However,  this  lack  of  publicity  is  not 
material ;  the  real  question  is  —  can  we  do  without  the 
Institute?  If  we  can,  then  it  is  not  wanted,  publicity  or 
no  publicity.  If  it  is  wanted,  if  its  need  be  imperative,  we 
must  have  it,  publicity  or  no  publicity. 

And  if  there  is  one  country  more  than  another  where  the 
needs  are  great,  that  country  is  Russia.  Nor  is  it  at  all 
necessary  for  me  to  supply  the  reasons,  they  are  evident, 
certainly  evident  to  the  Statesman.  Were  this  a  matter  like 
offering  additional  meats  after  dessert  it  could  be  waived 
aside,  but  this  matter  is  one  of  "food"  or  "starvation." 

You  know  as  well  as  I  do  that  the  manipulator  and  not 
your  government  sways  the  economic  destinies  of  Russia; 
and  you  know  as  well  as  I  do  that  single-handed  your  govern- 
ment is  no  more  powerful  to  cope  with  this  new  and  gigantic 
evil  than  is  the  United  States  or  France.  It  is  only  through 
the  united  efforts  of  all  nations  that  the  evil  can  be  over- 
come. .  .  . 

It  is  now  some  twenty-five  years  since  I  began  my  study 
of  the  manipulator,  and  those  who  think  that  he  is  beginning 
to  get  tired  of  his  control,  that  he  is  shortly  going,  of  his  own 
will,  to  lay  down  his  power,  are  doomed  to  sad  and  certain 
disappointment.  And  the  giant  has  by  no  means  reached 
maturity  yet;  he  is  still  growing  and  gaining  power  from 
hour  to  hour  and  from  day  to  day,  and,  unchecked,  he  will 
presently  eat  the  life  out  of  the  nations  with  much  greater 
rapidity.  .  .  . 

And  what  gives  the  manipulator  this  power?  This; 
he  is  the  "boss"  of  the  figures  which  make  and  unmake  the 
prices  of  the  staples  of  agriculture.  Take  this  away  from 
him ;  give  the  figures  to  the  world  in  a  form  accepted  as 
authoritative;  and  you  have  rendered  him  as  Samson  was 
after  his  hair  had  been  shorn  from  his  head. 


222  DAVID   LUBIN 

That  the  matter  under  consideration  is  not  yet  generally 
understood  is  evident.  Only  a  short  time  ago,  His  Ex- 
cellency W.  Weschniakoff,  a  gentleman  of  high  standing  in 
your  country,  wrote  me  saying  that  in  his  opinion  Russia 
kept  statistics  of  her  agricultural  products  and,  therefore, 
did  not  need  the  proposed  International  Institute  of  Agri- 
culture. If  Mr.  Weschniakoff  were  to  know  the  labor  per- 
formed by  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture  in  collecting 
statistics  for  the  cotton  production  of  the  United  States,  he 
would  begin  to  realize  that  no  such  kind  of  effort  is  made  in 
Russia,  in  Argentina,  and  in  other  grain-producing  coun- 
tries. And  yet  grain  is  grown  in  many  more  countries  than 
cotton,  and  how  much  more  difficult  would  it  be  for  any 
one  country  to  gather  up  throughout  the  world  the  essential 
facts  on  the  world's  production,  —  for,  be  it  noted,  the  facts 
of  any  one  country  are  of  no  use  in  arriving  at  the  world's 
price,  the  price  at  which  agricultural  staples  are  sold.  And 
supposing  it  were  possible  for  any  one  nation  to  arrive  at 
the  facts,  would  the  people  of  the  other  nations  believe  them 
to  be  the  facts  .f*  And  here  is  just  where  the  manipulator 
obtains  his  power. 

Once  have  each  nation  concerned  devise  and  carry  out 
a  system  for  collecting  correct  information  within  its  own 
borders,  and  let  this  information  be  summarized  under  the 
auspices  of  the  1. 1.  A.,  and  disseminated  by  it,  and  the  chief 
stock-in-trade  of  the  manipulator  is  gone. 

It  may  be  that  the  plan  is  ahead  of  the  times ;  but  why 
should  a  remedy  so  simple  as  the  one  proposed  require  the 
experience  of  revolutions  before  its  adoption,  when,  through 
a  few  far-seeing  agents,  it  can  be  adopted  now  ? 

Thus  in  the  absence  of  official  propaganda  Lubin  took  the 
task  on  himself,  and  worked  early  and  late  at  his  corre- 
spondence. He  would  write  a  letter  of  several  pages  setting 
forth  some  aspect  of  the  case,  and  send  carbon  copies  to  all 
likely  to  be  interested  or  whose  support  it  was  desirable  to 
win. 

If  in  some  of  these  letters  there  is  a  note  of  over-emphasis 
it  is  the  over-emphasis  of  a  reformer  —  vox  clamantis  in 
deserto  —  who  knows  he  has  a  great  truth  to  teach  and  every- 


DAVID  LUBIN  THE  PROPAGANDIST       223 

where  meets  contemptuous  indifference;    but  there  is  also 
much  close,  able  reasoning. 

But  it  was  the  force  of  personality  in  Lubin,  his  shrewd- 
ness and  skill  in  handling  men,  and  the  infection  of  his  own 
enthusiasm  for  a  cause  which  carried  the  day.  He  had  an 
unerring  instinct  in  these  matters.  For  instance,  when  the 
ratification  of  the  treaty  by  Great  Britain  was  under  dis- 
cussion, the  trend  was  to  discount  the  matter  on  the  ground 
that  agricultural  interests  were  only  of  subordinate  impor- 
tance for  England.  He  made  it  clear  that  such  ah  attitude 
was  untenable,  that  the  price  of  the  staples  interests  the 
buyer  no  less  than  the  seller,  and  that  tL^  interest  of  both 
parties  demands  not  so  much  high  prices  or  low  prices  as 
steady  prices.  He  knew  that  the  legitimate  trader  or  mer- 
chant has  no  love  for  sudden  and  violent  fluctuations  which 
throw  all  exchange  values  out  of  gear.  Guided  by  this  in- 
stinct a  few  months  later  on,  when  Secretary  Wilson  said 
he  would  like  the  opinion  of  practical  American  business  men 
on  the  value  of  the  Institute,  it  was  to  the  Chicago  Board 
of  Trade  that  Lubin  turned.  He  had  some  diflSculty  in 
getting  a  hearing.  The  Secretary,  the  late  Mr.  George  F. 
Stone,  was  a  very  busy  man  with  little  time  for  theorists  or 
cranks,  such  as  he  at  first  guessed  Lubin  to  be.  But  per- 
sistency won  the  day.  Lubin  left  some  papers  for  the  Sec- 
retary to  go  over,  and  was  told  to  call  again.  When  he  re- 
turned he  found  Mr.  Stone  pacing  up  and  down  his  oflice. 
**Do  you  know  the  importance  of  the  matter  you  have  sub- 
mitted to  me?"  was  the  rather  unexpected  inquiry  he  was 
met  with ;  and  to  Lubin's  aflfirmative  the  Secretary  replied, 
"But  do  you  know  what  this  plan  of  yours  would  mean  to 
the  world  in  dollars  and  cents  if  it  were  properly  carried  out  ? 
...  I  will  tell  you.  The  crops  of  the  United  States  are 
valued  for  1905  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  somewhere 
around  one  billion  dollars.  At  a  very  conservative  estimate 
the  crops  of  the  world  are  at  least  ten  times  those  of  the 
United  States,  therefore  a  matter  of  over  ten  billion  dollars. 
The  oflBcial  world  summary  of  crop  conditions  and  yields  of 


224  DAVID  LUBIN 

which  you  speak,  if  gathered  and  published  rapidly  enough  to 
be  of  commercial  value,  would  steady  the  market  in  these 
staples  from  five  to  ten  per  cent.  Reckon  that  out  in  dollars 
and  cents,  and  you  will  get  an  idea  of  the  importance  of  your 
proposal." 

"Will  you  give  me  a  statement  to  that  effect  which  I  can 
use?"  asked  Lubin,  and  Mr.  Stone  wrote  out  a  strong  in- 
dorsement. 

It  was  always  thus  with  David  Lubin;  those  who  were 
inclined  to  discount  him  as  an  idealistic  dreamer  were  the 
incompetent;  the  shallow  politician,  the  decorative  dip- 
lomat, the  superficial  journalist,  these  would  be  repelled  by 
his  emphasis  over  matters  the  vital  importance  of  which  was 
not  within  their  sphere  of  experience,  while  his  fierce  en- 
thusiasm offended  the  sophist  and  the  dilettante.  He  was 
a  bull  in  the  china  shop  of  their  delicate  sensibilities.  But 
he  never  feared  contact  with  the  really  competent,  —  the 
real  statesman,  the  shrewd,  hard-headed  business  man,  the 
keen  economist.  He  submitted  his  ideas  to  them  time  out 
of  number  and  the  result  was  always  victory.  And  just  as 
he  had  gone  to  the  fountainhead  of  the  grain  trade  in  Liver- 
pool and  Chicago,  so  he  took  up  the  case  in  the  stronghold 
of  manufacturing  industry,  and  there  again  won  unqualified 
support. 

The  name  "International  Institute  of  Agriculture"  sug- 
gested to  the  English  mind  an  academic  body  for  promoting 
the  technic  of  farming.  It  might  be  all  right  for  some 
countries,  but  of  what  use  could  it  be  to  a  great  industrial 
community?  He  would  show  that  an  institution  which 
could  affect  the  price  formation  of  the  raw  materials  of  in- 
dustry was  on  the  contrary  of  paramount  importance  to 
just  such  a  community,  and  without  waiting  for  introductions 
or  help  he  went  straight  to  Manchester,  to  Mr.  (now  Sir 
Charles)  Macara,  the  president  of  the  International  Asso- 
ciation of  Master  Cotton  Spinners  and  Manufacturers,  a 
man  second  to  none  in  his  stalwart  championship  of  inter- 
national organization  for  economic  progress.    Macara  dis- 


DAVID  LUBIN  THE  PROPAGANDIST       225 

covered  that  Lubin  was  a  man  striving  to  achieve  in  the  vast 
field  of  agricultural  production  what  he  himself  had  just 
been  organizing  in  the  more  limited  field  of  cotton  manu- 
facture, and  Lubin  found  he  was  speaking  not  to  a  convert, 
but  to  a  fellow  pioneer. 

And  so  they  went  immediately  to  London  and  had  one  of 
Lubin's  not  infrequent  and  long  conferences  with  that  able, 
experienced,  patient,  and  eminently  fair-minded  adminis- 
trator. Sir  Thomas  Elliott,  then  permanent  Secretary  to  the 
Board  of  Agriculture,  now  British  delegate  to  the  Inter- 
national Institute. 

Shortly  afterwards  Mr.  Macara,  in  whom  the  Institute 
from  that  day  forth  had  a  firm  and  influential  friend,  placed 
the  matter  before  the  international  cotton  convention  in 
Paris,  where  it  received  strong  indorsement ;  and  not  only 
in  England  but  in  France  also  Macara  did  much  to  con- 
vince the  hesitating  Treasury  authorities  of  the  advisa- 
bility of  providing  the  necessary  funds  for  the  Rome  In- 
stitute. 

If  diplomacy  is  intrigue  or  deceit,  there  never  was  a  less 
diplomatic  man  than  Lubin.  He  either  could  n't  or  would  n't 
understand  a  hint,  an  innuendo,  a  whispered  word ;  when 
he  wrote  a  letter  he  would  generally  make  six  copies  and  send 
it  all  round ;  and  he  treated  all  communications  on  public 
matters  as  addressed  not  to  himself  only  but  to  all  concerned. 
He  couldn't  speak  in  a  low  tone  of  voice,  he  couldn't  —  or 
wouldn't  —  understand  anything  but  clearly  enunciated 
speech  and  clear  bold  handwriting.  He  was  transparently 
above  board  and  direct,  almost  brutally  frank,  in  all  his 
dealings.  But  if  diplomacy  calls  for  keen  psychologic  in- 
sight which  enables  a  negotiator  to  strike  home,  and  to  strike 
at  the  right  moment  for  securing  results,  then  Lubin  was  a 
bom  diplomat,  and  showed  it  time  and  again  in  the  way  in 
which  he  conducted  the  campaign  for  the  Institute  from 
the  day  he  reached  Rome  until  his  death. 

Take,  for  instance,  this  account  I  have  often  heard  him 
give  of  a  meeting  he  attended  at  the  Board  of  Agriculture. 


226  DAVID  LUBIN 

Ratification  of  the  Treaty  was  under  discussion.  Various 
arguments  had  been  made  in  favor,  but  he  saw  that  the  sup- 
port was  lukewarm.  He  asked  permission  to  speak.  "  I  can 
see  what's  in  your  minds,  gentlemen,"  he  said.  "You 
think  that  England  is  a  buyer  not  a  grower  of  the 
staples,  and  you  fear  that  the  activities  of  the  Institute 
would  tend  to  level  up  prices,  making  it  increasingly 
diflScult  to  secure  'deals'  in  the  less  highly  organized 
countries,  such  as  Argentina  or  Russia  or  the  Balkans.  The 
cheap  loaf  is  good  for  the  British  workman,  and  may  not 
the  Institute  interfere  with  the  cheap  loaf?  Now,  the 
cheap  loaf  may  be  all  very  well,  but  there  is  another  side 
to  the  story.  You  have  some  industries  in  England,  you 
sell  your  manufactures  abroad  —  your  cotton  stuffs,  your 
machinery,  your  boots,  your  valises,  and  suspenders,  and 
what  not  —  And  you  export  capital.  England  holds  bonds 
and  stocks  and  shares  in  those  very  countries.  Now,  if  you 
squeeze  the  life  out  of  them,  if  you  force  down  the  price  of 
their  staples  through  price  manipulation,  it  may  mean  a  cheap 
loaf  and  a  big  stomach  for  the  British  workman  to-day,  but, 
mind  you,  it  may  mean  unemployment  for  him  to-morrow. 
That  same  workman  will  soon  find  his  job  gone,  for  such  a 
policy  amounts  to  strangling  your  best  markets ;  your  bonds 
and  shares  will  not  be  worth  the  paper  they  are  printed  on ; 
you  will  kill  the  goose  that  lays  the  golden  egg.  Help  to 
build  the  Institute  up  and  make  it  a  living  force  working 
for  equity  in  exchange,  and  you  will  be  building  up  the 
economic  strength,  the  purchasing  power  of  those  great 
agricultural  countries  which  are  the  natural  markets  for 
British  manufactures." 

In  the  spring  of  1906,  for  the  first  time  since  entering  the 
international  field  Lubin  returned  to  the  United  States. 

As  he  embarked,  he  learned  of  the  San  Francisco  earth- 
quake which,  according  to  the  first  reports  reaching  Europe, 
had  engulfed  half  California  !  It  is  easy  to  imagine  his  feel- 
ings during  that  crossing.  Events  called  for  his  presence 
in  Sacramento,  and  there  he  went,  but  no  private  interests, 


DAVID  LUBIN  THE  PROPAGANDIST        227 

however  urgent,  could  displace  the  Institute  from  the  first 
place  in  his  thoughts. 

In  May,  Lubin  went  to  Washington  to  fight  for  ratification. 
He  took  the  proposal  up  with  influential  members  of  the 
House  and  Senate,  finding  warm  support  in  his  old  friends 
Senator  George  C.  Perkins  and  Congressman  Julius  Kahn 
of  the  California  delegation.  The  Secretary  of  Commerce, 
Oscar  Straus,  was  sympathetic ;  he  soon  won  friends  among 
the  Department  men,  and  even  that  fine,  obstinate,  old 
Scotchman  from  Iowa,  Secretary  Wilson,  had  to  confess  that 
there  was  more  in  the  proposal  than  he  had  seen  at  first. 
Lubin  had,  in  fact,  turned  the  tables  on  the  Secretary  very 
neatly,  hoisting  him  with  his  own  petard.  In  his  1905  Re- 
port to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  speaking  of  the 
crop-reporting  service  of  the  Department,  Secretary  Wilson 
had  stated :  — 

"A  knowledge  which  covers  only  parts  of  the  area  of 
a  given  crop  may  be  misleading.  .  .  .  Reports  covering 
the  area  definitely  only  in  parts  may  be  used  by  self- 
interested  crop-reporting  agencies  to  mislead.  The  producer 
and  others  interested  need  a  knowledge  of  the  crop  of  the 
entire  area  expressed  as  a  total." 

This  was  pie  for  Lubin ;  it  was  easy  for  him  to  show  that 
the  entire  crop  area  for  such  staples  as  cereals  was  not  con- 
fined to  the  United  States.  Hence  the  logical  outcome  of 
the  Secretary's  own  claim  was  the  recognition  of  the  need 
of  an  international  crop-reporting  service.  Assiduous  work 
prepared  a  ground  favorable  for  ratification,  and  it  was  then 
that  for  the  first  time  he  ran  up  against  European  bureau- 
cracy, beginning  that  long  and  wearing  experience  which 
some  years  later  wrung  from  him  the  following  outburst 
with  which  he  relieved  his  feelings,  and  then  put  it  on  file 
where  it  has  remained  until  now : 

When  the  angel  Lucifer  rebelled  against  the  Almighty, 
there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  expel  him  from  Paradise  and 
consign  him  forever  to  nethermost  Hell.    As  the  rebellious 


228  DAVID   LUBIN 

and  fallen  angel  fell  down  to  the  bottomless  pit  his  heart  was 
full  of  rage  and  spite  and  he  determined  he  would  be  even 
on  some  one,  and  the  easiest  victim  he  could  find  was  man. 
Ha,  ha,  he  thought,  you  shall  pay  me  for  this ;  I  will  be  even 
yet  on  somebody ;  and  as  the  worst  he  could  do,  and  the 
heaviest  burden  ingenuity  could  contrive,  he  devised  bureau- 
cracy, and  the  nations  still  groan  beneath  the  cruel  load. 

When  I  was  in  Austria  in  1905  to  bring  the  matter  of  the 
proposed  Institute  of  Agriculture  before  the  leading  agri- 
cultural bodies  in  that  country,  I  saw  amongst  others  Count 
Hohenbluhm.  We  had  to  talk  through  an  interpreter  as 
I  do  not  speak  enough  German  to  converse  with  him  freely. 
After  the  main  outline  had  been  set  forth,  and  Hohenbluhm 
gathered  that  Governments  were  likely  to  play  a  prominent 
part  in  the  proposed  Institute,  that  it  was,  in  fact,  proposed 
to  make  it  a  State  institution,  he  began  swearing  and  using 
such  unparliamentary  language  that  even  my  scanty  German 
sufiiced  to  gather  that  storms  were  raging.  "What  is  he 
doing  ?  "  I  asked  of  the  interpreter.  "  Is  he  swearing  at  me  ?  " 
"Oh,  no,"  came  the  reply,  "not  at  you;  it  is  the  bureau- 
cracy, and  do  not  ask  me  to  translate ;  his  language  is  awful." 

Well,  I  thought,  the  old  gentleman  evidently  has  some 
grievance ;   I  expect  he  is  something  of  a  crank. 

Since  the  Institute  has  been  at  work,  I  have  learned  much. 
I  have  learned  that  Hohenbluhm  was  not  such  a  crank  after 
all,  that  even  the  calmest  might  be  betrayed  into  strong 
language  if  they  had  much  to  do  with  the  animal  known  as 
bureaucracy.  Bureaucracy  is  the  biggest  eater  and  the 
biggest  loafer  that  ever  oppressed  the  sons  of  man,  and  the 
Socialists  might  well  pause  and  learn  from  Hohenbluhm 
before  they  advocate  that  all  the  complicated  machinery 
of  modern  life  be  controlled  by  an  enlarged  and  inflated 
bureaucracy.  The  experience  in  the  Institute  has  been 
enough  to  settle  my  opinion  on  the  value  of  bureaucracies. 

Before  any  official  action  could  be  taken  toward  ratifica- 
tion, the  authenticated  copy  of  the  protocol  had  to  be  trans- 
mitted by  the  Italian  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  to  the 
Department  of  State.  To  Lubin  this  transaction  repre- 
sented nothing  more  than  placing  a  document  in  an  en- 


DAVID  LUBIN  THE  PROPAGANDIST        229 

velope,  registering  it,  and  mailing  it,  all  of  which  could 
surely  be  done  within  half  a  day  of  receiving  a  request, 
especially  when  that  request  showed  excellent  reasons  for 
the  use  of  dispatch.  The  sacred  traditions  of  bureaucracy 
which  make  it  little  short  of  treason  for  a  high  official  (and 
a  whole  series  of  small  officials  too)  not  to  let  so  weighty 
a  document  slumber  the  regulation  number  of  days  or  weeks 
or  months,  as  the  case  may  be,  on  their  several  desks  before 
it  at  last  gets  launched  on  its  journey,  were  incomprehen- 
sible to  him  and  he  started  a  regular  bombardment  of  letters 
and  cables  to  get  at  that  protocol.  Here  are  two  from  a 
dozen  such  which  he  sent  the  round  of  the  friends  and  work- 
ers :  — 

Washington,  May  31st,  1906. 

Dear  Mrs.  Agresti : 

As  you  may  remember,  it  was  my  motto  always  to  try 
to  wring  victory  from  the  jaws  of  defeat.  But  here  is  a  new 
phase ;  victory  is  in  sight,  but  —  but  —  but  — ....  Now, 
it  may  not  be  too  late  yet  (watch  the  papers  on  the  adjourn- 
ment of  Congress)  and  if  still  in  time  when  you  get  this, 
take  it  to  all  our  friends  and  see  whether  they  can  roll  the 
logs  away  so  that  we  can  proceed.  Whatever  be  the  case, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  reach  me  by  cable.  So  if  the  official 
Convention  or  Protocol  is  or  is  not  on  the  way,  let  me  know. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 
David  Lubin. 

Washington,  June  20th,  1906. 

Well,  the  Protocol  is  not  here  yet,  and  the  Secretary  of 
State  telephoned  for  it ;  but  what  can  be  done  ?  Every  hour 
that  we  lose  now  brings  us  further  away  from  the  possibility 
of  success. 

Most  certainly  you  are  in  no  way  to  blame,  nor  are  any  of 
our  friends  and  co-workers  to  blame.  However,  I  shall  not 
leave  the  field  until  the  fighting  chance  is  absolutely  gone. 

One  thing  is  sure,  the  field  so  far  as  the  Administration  is 
concerned  is  completely  won.    To-day  I  happened  to  visit 


230  DAVID   LUBIN 

the  statistical  department,  when  the  Chief  told  me  that  he 
had  been  asked  to  make  a  report  on  the  Institute  for  the 
Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor.  I  was  then  given  to 
understand  that  the  report  favored  the  Institute  in  the  very 
strongest  terms.  Well,  the  next  few  days  will  decide  whether 
ratification  is  possible  at  this  session.  Had  the  Protocol 
been  sent  on  the  2nd,  as  promised,  it  would  most  likely  have 
been  ratified  by  this  time. 

One  thing  is  sure ;  they  are  beginning  to  see  here  that  the 
King  of  Italy  and  his  advisors  were  not  the  "back  numbers" 
in  taking  up  this  matter  that  they  at  first  thought  they  were. 
.  .  .  Should  the  miracle  occur  and  ratification  still  be 
possible  during  this  session,  I  will  cable. 

As  these  letters  show,  Lubin  had  so  stirred  things  up  that 
by  now  the  Administration  was  on  the  "qui  vive",  telephon- 
ing and  inquiring  what  had  become  of  that  protocol.  It 
arrived  on  June  24 ;  on  the  25th,  Secretary  of  State  Root 
transmitted  it  to  President  Roosevelt;  on  the  26th  the 
President  transmitted  it  to  the  Senate,  and  on  the  27th  it 
was  ratified  and  made  public. 

And  now  came  the  question  of  the  appointment  of  the 
delegate.  Reluctant  as  Lubin  was  to  put  himself  in  evidence 
and  seek  for  office,  not  only  the  urgency  of  his  Italian  friends, 
but  his  own  experience  of  the  past  few  months  had  shown 
him  that  the  cause  demanded  that  he  should  fill  that  place. 
He  alone  had  devoted  a  lifetime  to  the  study  of  the  questions 
involved;  he  alone  was  prepared  to  dedicate  himself  ex- 
clusively —  time,  energy  and  means  —  to  its  promotion ;  he 
alone  had  the  apostolic  fervor  which  could  make  a  success 
of  so  difficult  a  task.  Certainly,  had  he  consulted  private 
and  family  interests,  he  would  have  retired  on  the  laurels 
he  had  already  won,  and  once  more  devoted  his  unparalleled 
energies  to  business.  Though  still  a  man  of  means,  he  had 
no  longer  the  wealth  his  earlier  efforts  had  secured  him ; 
he  had  spent  it  unhesitatingly  on  the  causes  he  believed  in ; 
he  always  looked  upon  money  as  an  excellent  servant  but  a 
detestable  master.    But  he  could  no  longer  doubt  where 


DAVID  LUBIN  THE  PROPAGANDIST        231 

duty  lay.  After  his  hurricane  campaign  for  ratification, 
his  friends  in  California  took  up  the  case  of  his  candidacy, 
and  when  he  left  the  United  States  for  England  in  October 
of  that  same  year,  he  had  been  appointed  delegate  to  the 
Permanent  Committee  by  President  Roosevelt. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  MASTER  BUILDER 

The  following  quotation  from  a  letter  David  Lubin  wrote 
to  his  sons  in  April,  1917,  embodies  the  lesson  he  learnt  and 
acted  on  during  the  years  of  patient  upbuilding  which  fol- 
lowed his  appointment  as  delegate  to  the  Institute,  years 
which  proved  his  true  worth  more  than  the  brilliant  and 
rapid  success  which  he  achieved  in  a  first  time. 

I  believe  that  you  have  too  much  common  sense  to  feel 
irritated  at  a  just  complaint,  nay,  as  you  have  doubtless 
read  and  digested  the  writings  of  Seneca  and  Epictetus  you 
will  not  even  be  offended  at  unjust  criticism. 

From  these  writers  you  will  have  learnt  that  the  difference 
between  the  intelligent  man  and  the  unintelligent  is  this : 
the  intelligent  takes  a  given  environment  as  a  status  quo. 
It  is  a  fact.  There  are  some  incongruities  and  shortcomings 
with  his  ideal,  and  he  endeavors,  partly  by  accommodation 
and  partly  by  efforts,  to  bring  the  environment  nearer  to 
his  ideal.  The  unintelligent  takes  the  stand  that  the  en- 
vironment should,  of  its  own  accord,  embody  his  ideals; 
but  of  course  no  such  thing  can  happen.  ...  So  it  comes 
to  pass  that  the  unintelligent  are  always  awry  with  their 
environment. 

The  chief  characteristic  of  the  intelligent  consists  in 
taking  for  granted  that  there  is  a  diversity,  that  there  must 
be  a  diversity,  and  that  this  diversity  must  be  respected. 
And,  if  there  be  necessity  for  it,  this  diversity  must  be  won 
over  by  logic,  by  right;  patiently  and  above  all  graciously 
put  forward.  *'Ohine  voo-chessed" ,  grace  and  mercy,  should 
be  your  sword,  and  not  scorn  or  ridicule.  The  former  makes 
the  strong  man,  the  latter  is  of  the  ass.  That  I  am  not  far 
from  the  truth  in  this  you  may  well  see  for  yourselves  by 
rereading  the  books  I  quoted  above  (Seneca  and  Epictetus). 


THE  MASTER  BUILDER  233 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I  have  in  my  career  oft  times 
acted  the  part  of  the  unintelligent,  but  the  older  I  get,  the 
clearer  I  see  that  the  unintelligent  mode  is  extravagant  even 
to  destruction.  If  you  can  get  hold  of  the  defect  for  good, 
put  it  into  a  pocket-handkerchief  and  throw  it  into  the  sea, 
you  will  have  accomplished  very  much  to  be  thankful  for. 

His  vision  led  him  far  ahead  of  his  environment;  where 
he  saw  a  first  step  toward  evolving  rational  order  out  of 
chaotic,  anarchic  fortuity  in  international  relations,  his  very 
colleagues  and  supporters  saw  at  most  a  well-organized 
statistical  bureau,  while  to  many  of  those  prominent  in  the 
work,  the  foundation  of  the  Institute  was  the  rather  rash 
act  of  a  young  and  inexperienced  monarch  which  must  be 
safely  guided  into  the  harbor  of  somnolent  obsolescence. 
The  beautiful  building  erected  by  the  King  of  Italy  amid 
the  grove  of  stone  pines  on  an  eminence  in  the  grounds  of 
Villa  Borghese  would  make  a  charming  international  club 
where  kid-gloved  diplomats  could  sip  tea,  find  sinecures  for 
satellites,  and  talk  polite  platitudes  about  the  "backbone 
of  the  nation"  and  "Nature's  nobleman."  This,  Lubin  was 
determined,  should  not  be. 

And  while  some  looked  on  him  as  an  uncouth  dreamer  of 
dreams,  others,  and  among  them  prominent  members  of 
Congress,  did  not  hesitate  to  express  harsher  judgments ; 
"This  Institute  is  a  pure  fake  ...  a  private  snap  over  in 
Rome.  ...  It  is  not  in  the  interests  of  agriculture;  .  .  . 
it  is  for  a  particular  individual,  the  man  who  represents  the 
Government  over  there,  drawing  the  salary."  These  were 
words  pronounced  in  the  House  of  Representatives  when  the 
appropriations  for  the  Institute  were  under  discussion  in 
February,  1909. 

But  David  Lubin  neither  quarreled  with  the  environment 
nor  submitted  to  it.  The  life  of  the  still  puny  infant,  born 
of  his  brain,  nurtured  with  his  life-blood,  was  at  stake,  and 
unselfish  devotion  to  an  ideal  gave  him  strength  to  resist. 

Conciliatory  or  aggressive  as  the  needs  of  the  case  de- 
manded, he  had  the  cause  too  much  at  heart  to  be  touchy  or 


234  DAVID  LUBIN 

to  resent  the  supercilious  airs  of  superiority  of  the  official 
jack-in-office,  or  the  many  petty  annoyances  to  which  he  was 
subjected.  So  concentrated  was  he  on  the  work  before  him 
that  he  became  oblivious  to  all  else.  By  nature  passionate 
and  impatient,  he  became  in  this  work  long-suffering  as  a 
teacher  amid  presumptuous  boys.  But  he  aged  much  under 
the  strain,  and  the  reaction  in  the  home  would  be  sleepless 
nights,  a  racking  cough,  and  nervous  irascibility  which  would 
flare  up,  fierce  and  sudden,  but  easily  placated. 

We  see,  he  wrote  to  his  old  California  friend,  William  H. 
Mills  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  (March  10,  1906), 
that  very  many  people  prefer  a  Dime  Museum  to  the  British 
Museum ;  that  men  marvel  at  a  sleight-of-hand  trick  more 
than  they  do  at  a  snowflake  or  the  leaf  of  a  tree;  and  so 
they  find  it  easier  to  invent  some  plan  of  Socialism  or  of 
Anarchism  rather  than  to  follow  the  easier  and  more 
practicable  plan  of  trying  to  straighten  out  the  kinks  in  our 
present  system.  A  Persian  setting  up  a  factory  with  Amer- 
ican machinery  tries  to  operate  it.  All  goes  well  for  a  few 
days,  but  after  that  things  go  contrary,  and  in  the  end  all 
stops.  An  American  mechanic  is  sent  for  and  soon  puts 
things  to  rights  by  having  the  journals  at  the  bearings  sup- 
plied with  the  lubricating  oil  that  was  wanted  before.  And 
so  with  the  social  structure :  its  basis  for  stability  is  in  equi- 
table exchange,  but  when  its  very  "staples"  are  permitted 
to  become  the  most  "speculative"  of  commodities,  what 
wonder  then  that  the  "bearings"  run  hard? 

Lubin  secured  appointment  as  a  delegate  well  ahead  of  the 
inauguration  of  the  Institute  so  as  to  work  with  the  several 
governments  to  secure  ratification  and  to  prepare,  in  col- 
laboration with  technical  experts,  a  tentative  plan  of  action. 
On  his  return  to  Europe  he  took  up  this  work  in  dead  earnest. 

Towards  the  end  of  November,  1906,  he  paid  a  flying 
visit  to  Rome,  thence  to  Budapest,  Vienna  and  Berlin. 
From  Budapest  he  wrote  me  :  "  Work  here  is  quite  important. 
There  seems  to  be  a  deadlock  between  Hungary,  Austria  and 
Germany.  If  one  will  ratify,  all  will.  So  I  am  trying  to 
break  the  deadlock.** 


THE  MASTER  BUILDER  2S5 

In  Berlin  he  had  one  of  his  characteristic  experiences. 
Under  the  impression  that  it  was  a  Federal  department, 
he  called  on  the  Minister  of  Agriculture  for  Prussia.  He 
found  himself  in  the  presence  of  a  pompous,  arrogant  bureau- 
crat whose  manner  clearly  showed  that  he  considered  the 
American  an  intruder.  In  response  to  a  curt  inquiry  Lubin 
began  to  explain  his  mission. 

"Oh,  we  know  all  about  that;  we  know  your  American 
crop  reports  and  the  scandals  and  swindles  to  which  they 
give  rise,"  the  Prussian  Excellency  interrupted,  referring  to 
the  cotton  report  scandals  of  the  previous  summer  (1905) 
when  it  was  claimed  that  a  speculator,  by  paying  seventy- 
five  thousand  dollars,  had  obtained  from  a  dishonest  em- 
ployee an  advance  copy  of  the  cotton  report  which  enabled 
him  to  corner  the  market. 

Lubin  listened  for  a  time,  and  when  he  had  heard  enough 
of  this  talk,  he  brought  his  fist  down  on  the  table  and  as- 
tounded the  Minister  by  saying,  "Have  n't  you  sense  enough 
to  see  that  you  are  making  out  the  strongest  possible  case 
for  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture?  If  it 
can  give  figures  which  a  thief  will  pay  seventy -five  thousand 
dollars  to  get  hold  of,  what  better  proof  do  you  need  of  the 
value  of  its  work.''  That's  all  the  difference  between  its 
figures  and  yours ;  you  need  n't  worry  about  thieves.  Why, 
you  'd  have  to  hire  a  thief  to  steal  any  of  your  German  statis- 
tics ;  they  're  only  piling  up  paper  for  the  junk-shop." 

And  he  walked  out,  leaving  the  Minister  entirely  non- 
plused, and  took  himself  off  to  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior, 
where  Count  Pasadowsky  gave  him  a  thoughtful  and  favor- 
able reception,  assuring  him  that  he  would  appoint  a  dele- 
gate who  would  cooperate  effectively  in  the  work. 

Lubin  had  an  exalted  idea  of  the  duties  of  the  press.  He 
believed  that  its  role  in  a  democracy  comes  next  to  that  of 
the  Church  as  an  educator  of  the  people,  and  he  looked 
upon  the  London  Times  with  that  respect  which  most  for- 
eigners feel  for  what  they  firmly  believe  to  be  the  official 
organ  of  British  public  opinion.    Why  should  not  The  Times 


236  DAVID   LUBIN 

champion  the  cause  in  its  broadest  aspect  as  a  fight  for 
economic  equity? 

He  called  on  the  then  editor,  the  late  Mr.  Moberly  Bell. 
The  impetuosity  of  his  effort  may  be  gathered  from  the 
following : 

The  Times,  London,  June  14th,  1907. 
Dear  Mr.  Lubin, 

I  was  much  interested  in  the  subject  of  our  conversation 
this  afternoon,  but  I  want  to  show  you  why  it  was  im- 
possible for  me  to  do  more  than  show  an  interest  in  it. 

You  have  no  doubt  made  a  study  of  the  subject  for  some 
years.  You  have  come  to  some  definite  opinions  on  the 
subject  which  you  hold  very  strongly. 

You  come  to  England  for  a  day  or  two,  you  see  me,  and 
you  want  me,  after  a  conversation  of  half  an  hour,  to  commit 
myself  and  The  Times  to  all  the  conclusions  at  which  you 
have  arrived  after  years  of  study. 

Is  this  reasonable  .f^  Would  it  have  been  reasonable  if 
I  could  have  given  you  two  hours  or  even  two  days  ? 

Either  the  matter  is  important  or  it  is  not  —  and  the  more 
important  it  is  the  more  necessary  it  is  that  time  should  be 
taken  to  study  it.  You  must  not  expect  the  Walls  of  Jericho 
to  fall  at  the  first  blast. 

Yours  truly, 

C.  F.  Moberly  Bell. 

Lubin  replied,  and  a  voluminous  correspondence  ensued 
which  was  mimeographed  and  circulated  as  part  of  the  am- 
munition in  the  fight.  By  now  he  could  state  his  case 
clearly,  forcibly,  concisely.  He  had  seized  on  that  portion 
of  the  work  prescribed  in  the  protocol  susceptible  of  powerful, 
dynamic  developments,  and  on  it  he  concentrated  all  his 
efforts.  The  uncertainties  and  vagueness  of  the  earlier 
pioneer  stage  had  gone.  There  is  nothing  diffuse  or  rhetor- 
ical about  such  a  statement  as  this,  which  I  quote  from  a 
letter  addressed  to  Walter  James  Brown,  then  Editor  of 
the  Toronto  Globe : 


THE  MASTER  BUILDER  287 

The  prices  of  the  staples  compose,  as  it  were,  the  primary 
wages  of  the  nation.  "Times  good  with  farmers,  good  all 
romid."  But  this  does  not  necessarily  mean  high  prices, 
nor  do  low  prices  bring  this  about.  Bad  times  come  from 
disturbance  in  the  ratio  of  exchange.  When  dollar  shirts 
remain  at  a  dollar  and  dollar  wheat  remains  at  a  dollar,  all 
is  well,  there  is  equity  in  exchange.  But  when  dollar  shirts 
remain  at  a  dollar  but  dollar  wheat  falls  to  fifty  cents,  it  is 
then  that  the  inequity  has  come  in  the  exchange. 

And  what  causes  the  rise  and  the  fall  in  the  prices  of  the 
staples?  Is  it  the  relation  between  Supply  and  Demand? 
And  what  determines  this  relation  ?  Is  it  the  quantity  of  the 
supply?  And  who  determines  this  quantity?  Can  it  be 
Mr.  Broomhall  of  the  Corn  Exchange  of  Liverpool,  or  Mr. 
Stone  of  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade  ?  .  .  .  But  the  bulk 
of  the  producing  nations  at  the  present  time  keep  no  tally  of 
their  production.  How  can  there  then  be  an  authoritative 
world's  summary?  But  even  if  there  were,  it  would  be  no 
good,  so  long  as  such  a  summary  is  not  given  out  by  some 
international  and  authoritative  body.  And  not  even  then, 
for  the  present  mode  of  quotations  omits  to  state  an  essential 
and  fluctuating  factor,  and  that  is  the  cost  of  transportation 
from  the  place  where  quoted  to  the  world's  market  center. 
All  this  is  not  done  at  the  present  time ;  hence  it  follows  that 
the  disposition  of  the  staples  of  agriculture  is  a  matter  of 
speculation. 

We  have  devoted  hundreds  of  years  and  thousands  of  well- 
balanced  minds  to  the  development  of  clocks  and  watches, 
but  we  have  had  no  time  to  devote  to  the  much  more  im- 
portant matter  of  the  equities  in  exchange. 

This  clear-cut  logic  made  headway.  Lubin  had  but  to 
get  a  quiet,  impartial  hearing,  and  he  was  practically  sure 
to  carry  his  point. 

From  his  lodgings  in  Brighton  where  he  stayed  with  his 
family,  when  in  England,  from  1907  until  the  opening  session 
of  the  Institute  in  1908,  Lubin  soon  found  himself  conducting 
a  large  international  correspondence.  He  had  urged  time 
and  again  on  the  Italian  Royal  Commission  that  it  should 
take  up  this  preliminary  work  in  real  earnest,  organize  a 


238  DAVID  LUBIN 

publicity  campaign,  keep  in  close  touch  with  the  several 
governments,  educate  them  on  the  purpose  of  the  work,  and 
prepare  with  the  assistance  of  experts  preliminary  plans  to 
be  submitted  at  the  opening  session  of  the  Permanent  Com- 
mittee, but  no  such  action  was  taken.  He  realized  that  in 
the  absence  of  all  publicity,  of  all  such  preliminary  effort, 
a  body  of  men  would  meet  with  very  vague  notions  as  to 
what  they  were  expected  to  do ;  that  there  would  be  as  many 
ideas  as  there  were  heads,  with  consequent  confusion,  dis- 
persion of  energy,  and  waste  of  much  precious  time.  To 
realize  his  feelings  we  must  remember  that  he  brought  to 
this  work  a  spirit  of  religious  fervor ;  he  never  tired  of  saying 
that  it  was  no  secular  but  a  truly  sacred  task ;  to  him  every 
opportunity  lost  seemed  well-nigh  sacrilege.  As  the  months 
went  round  and  the  day  of  inauguration  approached,  inac- 
tion on  the  part  of  Rome  forced  him  into  the  alternative 
of  doing  the  work  himself  or  leaving  it  undone.  He 
wrote  to  me  from  Brighton : 

As  you  can  fully  realize,  my  hardest  work  is  to  sit  idle, 
and  here  I  am  at  a  loss  just  what  ought  to  be  done.  I  am 
sure  that  there  is  any  amount  of  work  that  can  be  done  at 
this  time,  that  ought  to  be  done,  but  the  trouble  is  in  the 
peculiar  phase  of  the  situation  as  I  understand  it. 

In  the  past  I  have  occupied  much  of  my  time  in  sending 
out  various  articles,  much  of  which  were  copies  of  corre- 
spondence. But  I  seem  to  feel  that  it  may  be  counter  to  the 
wishes  of  the  Royal  Commission  for  me  to  exert  myself  in 
that  direction,  or,  indeed,  in  any  direction  tending  toward 
publicity. 

There  have  been  calls  for  "  literature  ",  and  it  seemed  to 
me  that  there  should  have  been  at  least  some  pamphlet 
to  supply  that  demand,  but  the  question  is  —  under  what 
auspices  should  that  be  published  ?  If  I  were  to  understand 
that  it  should  be  done  by  me,  I  would  have  had  the  same 
published.  I  could  probably  have  been  in  the  position  to 
have  done  some  service  in  foreign  countries,  but  it  may  be 
that  the  Commission  may  be  opposed  to  any  effort  in  this 
direction.  ... 


THE   MASTER  BUILDER  239 

I  realize  fully  that  just  so  long  as  there  is  the  Royal  Com- 
mission it  becomes  my  duty  to  do  nothing  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  their  intent,  but  just  so  long  as  I  am  unable  to  deter- 
mine what  that  spirit  conveys,  I  am,  of  course,  at  a  loss  to 
know  what  is  best  to  be  done. 

All  this  so  perplexed  me  that  about  a  week  ago  I  wrote  to 
California  asking  for  information  as  to  renting  of  a  house 
so  tliat  I  could  go  there  pending  the  call.  But  I  would 
not  care  to  go  there  pending  that  time  if  I  could  devote  my 
time  here  to  the  Institute  for  some  purpose,  and  would  know 
just  what  I  should  do  and  what  I  should  not  do. 

Inquiries  of  the  Royal  Commission  elicited  only  expressions 
of  polite  approval ;  direct  requests  would  be  answered  in  the 
aflBrmative,  but  vice  versa,  action  would  be  so  long  delayed 
as  to  negative  the  intent. 

Driven  by  the  Call  to  Service,  which  grew  ever  more 
urgent  within  him,  Lubin  forged  ahead  with  the  work ;  he 
soon  found  himself  corresponding  with  a  very  large  number 
of  governments. 

Replies  came  in  from  all  over  the  world,  from  France  to 
China,  from  Peru  to  Denmark ;  rarely  indeed  can  a  private 
man  have  conducted  such  a  correspondence. 

To  the  Russian  Ambassador  at  Vienna,  Prince  Leo  Ou- 
rousoflF,  he  wrote : 

...  As  you  have  been  informed,  the  Institute  opens 
its  sessions  on  the  23rd  May,  and  I  trust  that  Russia  will, 
in  addition  to  its  Delegates,  be  represented  by  an  efficient 
Board  of  expert  and  practical  advisers ;  for  it  is  at  that  session 
that  the  plan  for  the  working  of  the  Institute  will  be  devised, 
and  that,  of  course,  is  a  very  important  step.  When  you 
come  to  consider  that  at  the  present  moment  Russia,  as  well 
as  the  remainder  of  the  producing  nations,  have  substan- 
tially no  voice  in  the  distribution  of  their  products,  so 
far  as  the  staples  of  agriculture  are  concerned,  but  that 
under  the  Institute  this  static  condition  will  be  changed  into 
a  mobile  and  dynamic  one,  then  you  can,  as  a  Statesman,  see 
that  it  is  in  the  best  interests  of  Russia  that  her  Statesmen, 
worthy  of  that  name,  should  not  wait  until  some  lucky 


240  DAVID   LUBIN 

chance  mould  the  Institute  properly  and  set  it  upon  its  feet, 
but  that  the  best  gifted  men  in  all  Russia  should  be  sent  to 
Rome  for  the  first  meeting,  and  by  their  presence,  ability, 
and  wisdom  help  shape  it  so  that  it  become  a  living  instru- 
ment toward  permanent  economic  betterment. 

Thus  his  energy  and  zeal  supplemented  the  apathy  of 
officialdom,  but  just  when  these  efforts  were  arousing  wide- 
spread interest  likely  to  materialize  in  constructive  pre- 
liminary action,  Lubin  was  to  learn  that  one  can  be  too 
zealous,  too  successful ;  that  this  very  zeal  and  success  will 
so  irk  the  incompetent,  the  cynical,  the  self-satisfied,  the 
indolent,  as  to  arouse  their  hostility :  dwarfs  forever  under- 
mining the  work  of  giants,  as  Victor  Hugo  phrases  it. 

Lubin  came  to  Rome  in  the  latter  half  of  March,  1908. 
The  Institute  was  to  open  its  doors  on  the  twenty-third  of 
May.  He  hoped  to  utilize  the  intervening  weeks  in  working 
out  with  the  Royal  Commission  and  with  the  delegates  of 
adhering  governments  a  tentative  preliminary  program 
to  be  placed  before  the  Permanent  Committee  for  action. 
He  called  on  the  President  of  the  Royal  Commission,  Count 
Faina,  and  at  the  American  Embassy,  and  found  apparent 
approval  of  and  consent  to  his  action.  For  one  week  all 
doors  seemed  to  be  opening  before  him.  He  visited  the 
several  Embassies  and  was  given  a  most  attentive  hearing. 

One  of  the  places  he  went  to,  with  me  as  interpreter,  was 
the  Chinese  Embassy,  where  we  were  solemnly  received  by 
the  old  Ambassador,  his  young  son,  and  a  Secretary  who 
stood  respectfully  by,  dressed  in  his  black  silk  robes  (in  those 
days  costume  and  pigtail  still  made  the  Chinese  picturesque 
exceptions  to  the  imiformity  of  modem  costume),  tablets  in 
hand,  noting  down  the  conversation.  Mr.  Lubin,  with  the 
help  of  rough  diagrams,  speaking  slowly  and  loudly,  set  to 
work  t^  explain  the  purposes  of  the  Institute,  giving,  as  he 
would  phrase  it,  a  "kindergarten  lesson  in  economics", 
setting  forth  the  mysteries  of  price-formation  and  price- 
manipulation  of  the  staples  to  these  representatives  of  the 
Far  East.     He  showed  that  China,  even  though  neither 


THE  MASTER  BUILDER  241 

a  large  exporter  nor  importer  of  the  staples,  came  neverthe- 
less within  the  sphere  of  influence  of  the  world's  price,  for 
prices,  like  water,  find  their  own  level  and  the  home  price  is 
affected  by  the  world  price,  however  much  a  country  may 
hedge  itself  in  with  tariff  restrictions  or  special  legislation. 

The  Turkish  Embassy  was  another  visited,  and  there 
again  a  simple  and  direct  statement  of  the  issues  involved 
in  the  little  understood  initiative  of  the  King  of  Italy  aroused 
a  prompt  and  sympathetic  response. 

Nor  was  his  action  less  effective  with  the  representatives 
of  the  Great  Powers.     The  Austrian  Ambassador  wrote : 

Austro-Hungarian  Embassy, 
Palazzo  Chigi,  Rome,  20th  March,  1908. 

Dear  Mr.  Lubin : 

I  wish  to  thank  you  most  particularly  for  the  most  in- 
teresting information  which  you  were  kuid  enough  to  give 
me,  both  verbally  and  in  writing.  Your  definition  of  the 
Agricultural  Institute  as  the  Clearing  House  of  the  world 
for  all  agricultural  produce  brings  the  matter  home  even 
to  the  mind  least  acquainted  with  the  technical  side  of  the 
question.  I  have  already  written  to  my  Government  on 
the  subject  of  moving  up  into  the  first  class.  I  hope  they 
will  not  fail  to  see  it.  .  .  . 

Believe  me,  very  sincerely, 

H.  Lutzow. 

Great  Britain  and  France  were  sending  out  special  rep- 
resentatives to  attend  the  preliminary  meetings  Lubin  had 
arranged,  which  were  already  attended  by  the  represent- 
atives of  Germany,  Spain,  Switzerland,  Denmark,  Rumania, 
China.  Once  more,  as  in  those  early  days  before  the  issue 
of  the  King's  proclamation,  it  looked  as  if  the  deep  impor- 
tance of  the  work  in  its  broader  aspects,  as  a  step  toward 
international  organization,  were  about  to  get  effective  recog- 
nition from  the  governments  of  the  world. 

We  were  driving  back  from  a  long  conference  Lubin  had 
had  with  the  Russian  chargS  d'affaires,  and  all  looked  as  if 
it  would  now  be  fair  sailing.    Lubin  was  for  once  feeling 


242  DAVID  LUBIN 

really  happy.  "It  seems  too  good  to  be  true,"  he  said  to 
me.  On  reaching  the  Bristol  Hotel  a  letter  was  handed  him 
from  the  United  States  Embassy ;  he  opened  it  and  he  read 
as  follows : 

Dear  Sir : 

I  have  to  inform  you  that  on  the  afternoon  of  Saturday 
last,  the  21st  inst.,  I  received  the  following  cable  from  the 
Secretary  of  State  at  Washington:  "The  President  has 
appointed  you  member  permanent  Committee  Agricultural 
Institute  in  the  place  of  David  Lubin.  Inform  Italian 
Government  and  Mr.  Lubin,  if  you  can  ascertain  his  where- 
abouts.    Root." 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  your  obedient  Servant, 

Lloyd  C.  Griscom. 

It  was  a  staggering  blow,  for  not  only  was  the  form  of  the 
dismissal  humiliating,  the  reason  unexplained,  but  it  undid 
at  one  stroke  the  work  of  months,  casting  discredit  not  only 
on  the  man  but  on  the  cause  he  stood  for. 

But  Lubin  had  not  been  a  frontiersman  for  nothing ;  he 
could  put  up  a  fight  with  the  best.  Nor  had  he  for  years 
championed  the  cause  of  the  American  farmers  to  be  for- 
gotten and  cast  aside ;  nor  was  he  one  of  the  most  respected 
personalities  in  the  business  world  of  California  for  such  a 
slight  to  be  put  upon  him  without  arousing  indignation  and 
resentment.  The  California  Senators  and  Congressional 
delegation  took  the  matter  up ;  the  press  gave  more  atten- 
tion to  this  dismissal  than  they  had  to  the  Institute.  Nor  was 
Lubin  without  powerful  friends  in  Rome  of  whom  Luzzatti 
was  the  most  prominent.  The  King  let  it  be  known  how 
deeply  he  regretted  the  action  of  the  State  Department ;  Mr. 
Griscom  himself  and  Mr.  Henry  White,  the  Ambassador  in 
Paris,  voiced  the  feelings  of  many  prominent  Americans  in 
Europe  in  disapproving  of  the  action  and  more  especially 
of  the  mode  of  notification.  In  America  the  farmers  and  the 
press  began  to  talk  freely  of  "special  interests",  and  the  pull 
they  had  in  high  quarters,  for  it  was  known  that  Lubin's 


THE  MASTER  BUILDER  243 

fight  was  a  fight  against  the  trust  and  the  manipulator. 
Within  a  month  he  was  reinstated,  his  position  in  a  sense 
securer  than  it  had  ever  been,  in  spite  of  the  rather  slurring 
oflBcial  reference  to  "indiscretion  arising  from  an  amiable 
enthusiasm  for  the  object  in  which  you  are  so  much  en- 
gaged." "Amiable  enthusiasm"  was  indeed  a  euphemism 
for  the  fierce  zeal  of  David  Lubin  in  the  service  of  righteous- 
ness. 

But,  for  all  that,  unintelligent  oflBcialism  and  petty  jeal- 
ousy on  both  sides  of  the  ocean  had  inflicted  a  real  injury  to 
the  cause.  They  had  succeeded  in  putting  a  stop  to  all  ef- 
fort to  make  the  purposes  of  the  Institute  clear  to  those  who 
were  shortly  to  meet  to  bring  it  into  eflFect,  and  when  at 
last  it  was  solemnly  inaugurated  on  May  23,  1908,  in  the 
presence  of  the  King  and  Queen  of  Italy  and  the  whole 
diplomatic  corps,  oflScial  eloquence  barely  concealed  the  lack 
of  a  real  grasp  of  the  purpose  aimed  at. 

David  Lubin  again  set  patiently  to  work  to  "take  a  hole 
and  put  iron  round  it." 

The  lesson  taught  by  his  dismissal  was  not  wasted  on  him. 
In  his  own  words  he  took  the  environment  as  a  status  quo 
to  be  won  over,  partly  by  accommodation  and  partly  by 
effort.  He  realized  that  the  originator  of  an  idea  is  always 
looked  at  askance  by  its  oflBcial  commentators,  or  inter- 
preters; that  his  presence  among  them  is,  consciously 
or  subconsciously,  resented.  He  did  not  quarrel  with  the 
situation,  but  accepted  it  as  inevitable.  He  often  felt 
tempted  to  retire,  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  family  life  to 
which  he  was  keenly  sensitive,  but  he  realized  that  his  work 
was  necessary  to  the  cause,  that  withdrawal  would  have 
been  desertion ;  and  he  remained  at  his  post,  working  early 
and  late  with  untiring  energy. 

Two  names  were  frequently  on  his  lips  in  those  months, 
those  of  United  States  Senator  Bailey,  and  of  Sir  Edward 
Buck,  the  delegate  for  British  India.  He  used  to  tell  me 
that  Senator  Bailey  had  wielded  more  influence  in  the  Senate 
than  almost  any  other  single  member,  yet  he  seldom  spoke, 


244  DAVID  LUBIN 

generally  sitting  with  half-closed  eyes,  seemingly  dozing 
and  taking  little  part  in  the  proceedings.  His  power  con- 
sisted in  unobtrusively  winning  others  over  to  his  views  in 
such  wise  that  they  came  honestly  to  believe  that  those  views 
originated  with  themselves  and  would  give  expression  to 
them  as  such,  when  the  Senator  would  look  up  to  indorse 
them  and  express  approval.  He  would  thus  win  his  point 
without  apparent  advocacy. 

Rather  to  the  surprise  of  his  colleagues,  who  had  feared 
undue  loquaciousness,  Lubin  seldom  spoke  in  the  committee 
meetings  and  then  but  briefly.  But  however  much  he  might 
wish  to  keep  his  personality  in  the  background,  it  was  too 
forceful,  too  original  not  to  emerge.  If  he  were  slow  and 
hesitating  with  the  pen,  he  was  a  born  orator;  a  powerful 
voice  and  impressive  delivery  seconded  the  gift  of  ready, 
quaint  and  striking  image  relieved  by  homely  wit,  and  his 
innate  religious  fervor  imparted  solemnity  and  nobility  to 
his  utterances.     They  could  not  but  command  attention. 

For  Sir  Edward  Buck,  who  had  held  high  administrative 
office  in  British  India,  Lubin  had  a  deep,  almost  affectionate 
regard.  In  manner  Sir  Edward  was  the  very  antithesis 
of  the  Californian;  a  gentle-mannered,  wary  official,  well 
versed  in  diplomatic  caution.  Lubin  relied  greatly  on  his 
judgment,  and  whenever  he  had  a  chance  he  would  show 
Sir  Edward  his  reports  and  writings  and  ask  for  criticism. 
And  Sir  Edward  would  alter  assertion  into  suggestion,  and 
would  tone  down  superlatives,  substituting  "I  am  rather 
inclined  to  believe",  or  "it  seems  not  improbable",  for 
Lubin's  bold  affirmatives.  "We  must  Buckicise  this" 
became  a  familiar  expression  with  him.  But  in  spite  of  all 
good  intentions  the  "old  Adam"  would  flare  up  occasionally, 
as  in  the  following  letter  (May,  1909)  to  his  staunch  friend. 
Congressman  Kahn :  — 

.  .  .  The  surprising  thing  is  the  dense  ignorance  of 
the  average  Congressman  on  the  subject  of  the  factor  which 
largely  determines  the  price  of  the  staples  of  agriculture. 


THE   MASTER  BUILDER  245 

of  which  the  United  States  alone  produce  about  eight  billion 
dollars  annually  (see  Secretary  Wilson's  Report  in  the  "Year 
Book"). 

Is  there  a  question  greater  than  that  ?  Is  the  question  of 
our  Army,  of  our  Navy,  of  greater  importance?  And  yet 
read  the  enclosure,  and  note  from  the  Congressional  Record 
of  February  20th  the  debate  in  the  House,  and  the  action 
taken  by  the  House  as  a  result  of  that  debate,  and  you  cannot 
fail  to  come  to  the  conclusion,  either  that  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  deliberately  ratified  a  Treaty  for  carrying 
on  "nonsensical  work",  or  that  there  must  be  a  large  number 
of  "nonsensical"  members  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
all  lying  about  loose. 

Is  it  essential  that  the  members  of  the  House,  before  being 
in  a  position  to  act  sensibly  on  so  vital  a  question  be  first 
educated  by  the  delegate  in  Rome  of  this  Institute.'*  Is  it 
not  natural  to  suppose  that  the  members  of  the  House  under- 
stand this  question  as  it  should  be  understood?  What  are 
the  members  for  if  they  do  not  understand  a  question  as  im- 
portant as  this,  a  question  of  such  vital  interest  to  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  of  the  United  States  ? 

Can  you  point  to  a  vantage-ground  more  susceptible  to 
manipulation,  to  trust  formations,  to  dislocation  of  values, 
to  the  disturbance  of  commercial  and  industrial  interests, 
than  the  furnishing  of  the  summary  of  the  world's  supply 
of  the  staples  of  agriculture  as  it  is  now  furnished?  Is 
this  a  small  matter?     Is  it  "nonsensical"? 

Well,  let  us  be  thankful  at  least  that  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  is  better  informed.  It  was  the  Senate  that 
ratified  the  Treaty  adhering  to  the  Institute;  it  was  the 
Senate  that  voted  the  necessary  appropriation  for  lawfully 
carrying  out  that  Treaty;  but  it  was  the  House  (see  Con- 
gressional Record,  Feb.  20th)  that  called  this  appropriation  a 
"private  snap",  a  "fake." 

Now,  what  does  the  House  mean?  Does  it  mean  that 
the  Delegate  of  the  United  States  at  this  Institute  intended 
unlawfully  and  cunningly  to  absorb  Government  money  from 
the  funds  of  the  United  States  for  his  own  personal  use? 
These  Solons  could  have  easily  learned  that  while  I  was 
permitted  to  draw  during  the  past  two  years  $3,500  a  year 


246  DAVID  LUBIN 

salary  (and  the  position  is  worth  that,  and  double  that,  and 
treble  that,  and  other  nations  are  paying  their  delegates,  and 
the  delegates  are  accepting  the  salary)  that  I  accepted  but 
one  hundred  dollars  salary  for  the  past  two  years,  eighty  dol- 
lars of  which  were  paid  by  Mr.  Morrison,  clerk  of  the  State 
Department,  for  the  Portraits  of  Washington  and  Lincoln, 
now  in  the  American  Room  in  the  Institute,  and  the  twenty 
dollars  remaining  of  the  one  hundred  dollars  are  still  in  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States,  or  in  the  safe  of  the  clerk 
of  the  State  Department,  subject  to  my  order. 

But  supposing  I  had  accepted  a  salary  for  my  service 
as  a  delegate  of  the  United  States  at  this  Institute  ?  Would 
that  have  been  wrong?  Would  it  have  been  any  more 
blameworthy  than  for  the  members  of  the  House  to  accept 
a  salary  ? 

But  is  this  a  question  of  salary  at  all  ?  Is  it  not  a  ques- 
tion that  transcends  in  importance,  in  practical  importance, 
every  other  question  before  the  people  of  the  United  States  ? 
The  defence  of  the  Flag  is  a  vital  question ;  it  is  the  defence 
of  Liberty.  But,  after  all,  the  Flag  is  but  a  symbol  of  ideal 
Liberty.  Take  a  dollar  and  cunningly  and  unjustly  abstract 
from  its  value  twenty-five  cents,  and  you  have  thereby  dimin- 
ished the  purchasing  power  of  that  dollar  by  one  quarter  of 
its  value;  you  have  practically  deprived  its  owner  of  the 
liberty  to  procure  what  ought  to  have  been  his.  You  have 
deprived  him  of  liberty.  If  it  is  essential  to  maintain  the 
symbol,  the  Flag,  in  its  integrity,  is  it  not  equally  essential 
to  maintain  the  evidence  of  practical  liberty,  the  purchasing 
power  of  the  dollar,  in  its  integrity?  And  yet  the  world's 
supply,  the  summary  of  the  supply  of  the  staples  of  agri- 
culture determines  the  purchasing  power  and  the  selling 
power  of  every  dollar's  worth  of  those  staples  in  the  United 
States  as  well  as  in  the  world. 

And  how  is  the  summary,  the  necessary  world's  summary 
of  the  staples  of  Agriculture  arrived  at  to-day?  Is  it  not 
almost  altogether  furnished  by  private  self-interested  par- 
ties ?     Please  answer ! 

If  it  is  not  arrived  at  in  that  way,  if  all  the  nations  of  the 
world  have  the  method  which  prevails  in  the  United  States 
for  obtaining  an  authoritative  summary,  and  if  the  various 


THE  MASTER  BUILDER  247 

national  summaries  are  united  into  one  authoritative  world's 
summary,  then,  of  course,  there  is  no  use  for  the  International 
Institute  of  Agriculture.     Then  it  would  be  "nonsensical." 

But  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  has  decided  otherwise. 
In  ratifying  the  Treaty  for  the  Institute,  it  has  decided  that 
it  is  essential  to  have  a  disinterested  and  authoritative 
world's  summary  of  the  staples,  and  how  else  can  that  be 
done  other  than  by  a  world's  Department  of  Agriculture, 
the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture  ? 

And  what  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  so  clearly  saw 
was  likewise  seen  by  the  governments  of  the  forty-eight 
adhering  nations  which  ratified  this  same  Treaty.  So,  then, 
it  is  a  question  between  the  debaters  in  the  House  on  this 
measure  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
and  the  Governments  of  all  the  other  nations  that  have  ad- 
hered to  the  Institute  on  the  other. 

I  think  I  am  right  in  believing  that  had  you  been  in  the 
House  while  this  discussion  was  up,  you  would  have  taken 
the  floor  and  shed  some  light  on  this  question.  However, 
the  opportunity  may  be  again  afforded  at  some  future  time. 

If  this  letter  is  forcible,  it  is  certainly  not  egotistic ;  there 
is  an  absence  of  *'I"  in  treating  a  case  in  which  he  had  been 
personally  and  most  unjustly  attacked  which  is  a  refreshing 
and  characteristic  feature  of  all  Lubin's  correspondence. 

The  great  "I  am"  never  obsessed  him.  He  had  far  too 
exalted  a  conception  of  the  work  he  was  engaged  on;  the 
motive  which  actuated  him  was  too  lofty,  too  abstract,  for 
petty  vanity  to  intrude.  Crop  reporting  and  the  world 
summary  of  the  staples  might  be  the  burden  of  his  cry,  but 
the  "Kingdom  on  earth"  was  the  goal. 

This  is  clearly  expressed  in  a  letter  written  to  Doctor 
Stephen  Bernat,  Secretary  of  the  Hungarian  Agrarian 
League,  who  asked  him  for  an  account  of  his  life  work.  As 
usual  with  such  statements  from  Lubin,  his  individuality 
becomes  merged  in  the  theme,  and  after  giving  a  brief  out- 
line of  his  work  in  the  field  of  agricultural  economics,  he 
concludes : 


248  DAVID   LUBIN 

The  nations  will  presently  begin  to  understand  that  the 
theory  of  Macchiavelli  is  not  nearly  as  profitable  as  the 
teachings  of  the  prophets  of  old ;  they  are  beginning  to  un- 
derstand that  "righteousness  exalteth  a  nation";  and  that 
pure  egotism,  whether  of  an  individual  or  of  a  nation,  works 
toward  ultimate  ruin.  They  will  begin  to  learn  that  disas- 
ter for  one  country  means  disaster  for  other  countries ;  that 
prosperity  for  one  means  prosperity  for  many.  It  has  taken 
the  world  centuries  to  learn  this ;  it  may  take  centuries  more 
to  learn  it ;  but  it  is  learning,  and  presently  it  will  know. 

The  building  of  this  Institute  may  go  into  decay  but  the 
lesson  which  it  tries  to  teach  will  live.  And  so  the  work 
in  this  field  in  which  you  and  I  and  other  pioneers  have 
given  of  our  time  and  energy  will  not  be  lost.  It  is  now  in 
the  world  and  it  is  here  to  stay;  and  you  and  I  and  the 
workers  for  the  idea  for  which  the  Institute  stands  may  feel 
satisfied  that  we  have  not  worked  in  vain. 


CHAPTER  XV 

RUSSIA  —  THE  BALKANS PEACE 

When  David  Lubin  returned  to  Rome  in  October,  1908, 
from  a  visit  to  Washington,  accompanied  by  the  United 
States'  delegates  to  the  first  General  Assembly  of  the  In- 
stitute, he  could  fairly  claim  that  he  had  won  a  fiercely  con- 
tested victory.  The  "first  international  parliament",  as 
William  T.  Stead  had  called  it  in  the  Review  of  Reviews,  was 
safely  launched  on  its  course.  Many  were  the  rocks  and 
shoals  ahead,  but  it  was  no  longer  necessary  to  speak  of  the 
Institute  in  the  future  tense.  Forty-six  nations  had  ratified 
the  Treaty,  the  Governments  had  voted  the  requisite  funds, 
the  munificence  of  the  King  of  Italy  had  provided  handsome 
headquarters.  The  United  States  had  been  won  over  to 
the  idea,  and  henceforth  the  Department  of  Agriculture  was 
to  cooperate  closely  and  cordially  with  the  International 
Institute  of  Agriculture. 

Lubin  watched  over  the  infancy  of  this  creature  of  his 
brain  with  all  the  solicitude  of  a  parent  who  already  sees  in 
the  feeble  babe  the  stalwart  man.  Many  were  the  problems 
which  arose  in  those  early  days. 

The  great  war  has  created  such  a  break  between  the  pres- 
ent and  the  past  of  ten  or  fifteen  years  ago,  and  we  have  all 
heard  so  much  during  the  last  three  or  four  years  of  inter- 
national action,  Leagues  of  Nations,  international  bureaus 
for  this  and  that,  it  is  difficult  to  realize  that  so  recently  as 
1908  permanent  international  cooperation  in  any  field  but 
that  of  abstract  science  was  almost  without  precedent,  and 
that  the  Committee  in  outlining  the  organization  and  program 
to  be  carried  out  by  its  international  staff,  was  treading 
on  untried  ground. 


250  DAVID  LUBIN 

Under  such  circumstances,  the  tendency  is  always  to 
follow  the  line  of  least  resistance,  which,  in  this  case,  meant 
the  static  and  the  academic.  But  David  Lubin  was  ever 
on  the  watch  to  steer  the  ship  clear  of  the  shoals  of  innocuous 
desuetude.  He  worked  quietly  but  persistently  to  get  the 
organization  of  the  crop-reporting  section  intrusted  to  an 
American  from  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  so  that  it 
might  profit  by  the  traditions  of  the  one  statistical  bureau 
then  giving  out  reports  of  commercial  value.  After  a  hard- 
fought  fight  the  appointment  was  secured  for  Doctor  C.  C. 
Clark,  then  Assistant  Chief  of  the  Crop-Reporting  Bureau 
at  Washington. 

In  the  spring  of  1909  the  Patten  corner  in  wheat  had  con- 
vulsed the  Chicago  exchange  and  involved  in  its  violent  vi- 
brations the  wheat  markets  of  the  world.  The  Institute, 
still  in  the  organizing  stage,  had  not  yet  begun  its  world 
service,  but  Lubin  felt  that  it  should,  without  further  delay, 
seek  and  publish  information  on  world  crop-conditions.  The 
bureaucratic  element  in  the  Institute,  with  its  dread  of 
action,  urged  prudence.  "Let  us  study;  let  us  appoint 
commissions,"  was  its  advice.  "While  you  are  studying, 
the  Governments  will  get  tired  of  paying,  and  the  Institute 
will  die  of  inanition,"  was  Lubin's  cry  of  alarm. 

His  proposal  was  the  subject  of  eager  debate  in  the  Per- 
manent Committee.  One  of  the  most  powerful  manipulators 
on  the  European  wheat  market,  Mr.  Louis  Dreyfus,  thought 
it  worth  while  to  run  down  to  Rome  and  see  what  the  talk 
of  an  international  crop-reporting  bureau  amounted  to. 
When  consulted,  he  was  eloquent  in  advocating  prudence. 
"Remember,  the  eyes  of  the  world  are  on  the  Institute,  and 
you  must  do  nothing,  give  out  no  statements,  no  information, 
until  you  can  be  sure  that  it  is  absolutely  reliable,"  was  the 
burden  of  a  conversation  he  had  with  Lubin.  He  talked  of 
ten  years'  study  as  a  necessary  preliminary  to  the  work. 

"Yes,  we  must  remember  that  the  eyes  of  the  world  are 
upon  us,  and  it  is  for  that  very  reason  that  we  should  begin 
the  work  without  any  delay ;  if  we  sit  with  folded  arms,  the 


RUSSIA  — THE  BALKANS  —  PEACE         251 

*eyes  of  the  world'  will  see  in  us  consumers  of  funds  and 
nothing  more,"  was  Lubin's  answer.  Mr.  Dreyfus  quoted 
Russia  as  an  instance  of  the  impossibility  of  securing  the 
kind  of  information  required  : 

"The  Russian  individually  is  a  clever  man,  but  as  a 
nation  they  are  terribly  backward.  There  is  practically 
no  organization  in  that  country.  Why,  the  Government 
does  not  even  know  what  the  population  is,  whether  it  be 
one  hundred  and  forty  or  one  hundred  and  eighty  mil- 
lions. The  only  branch  of  their  agricultural  service  which 
is  well-organized  is  the  statistics  on  exports.  They  could 
supply  you  with  those  figures,  all  right,  but  as  for  the  con- 
dition of  growing  crops  —  well,  you  might  try,  but  it  is 
very  doubtful  what  you  would  get.  Go  to  St.  Petersburg, 
and  you  will  see  how  matters  stand  there.     It  is  Oriental." 

At  the  close  of  this  conversation  Lubin  returned  to  the 
American  room  in  the  Institute  and  wrote  the  following 
letter  to  Mr.  A.  Yermoloff,  a  former  minister  of  Agriculture, 
who  had  attended  the  General  Assembly  as  Delegate  of 
Russia : 

( Rome,  May  28th,  1909. 

Excellency :  ^ 

The  delegate  of  France,  Mr.  Louis  Dop,  intimated  to  me 
some  little  time  ago  that  an  important  visitor  from  France 
would  be  calling  at  the  Institute  with  whom  he  would  like 
me  to  have  some  conversation.  This  morning  this  gentle- 
man came.  He  is  the  Hon.  Louis  Dreyfus,  member  of  the 
French  Chamber  of  Deputies,  one  of  the  principal  grain 
merchants  of  Europe,  and  in  the  course  of  our  talk  the  posi- 
tion of  Russia  in  relation  to  the  Institute  was  taken  up,  and 
I  deem  the  matter  worthy  of  being  brought  to  your  atten- 
tion. Enclosure  Number  1  is  a  report  of  this  morning's 
conversation.  .  .  . 

Were  I  under  the  impression  that  the  economic  condition 
of  your  country  is  a  matter  of  indifference  to  you,  you  can 
rest  assured  that  I  would  not  trench  upon  your  time  or  waste 
my  energies  in  addressing  you.  I  am  under  the  impression 
that  you  are  a  serious  man,  and  in  a  position  to  reach  others 


252  DAVID   LUBIN 

in  your  country  equally  serious  for  the  consideration  of  the 
question  before  us.  It  is  true  we  have  an  Institute,  that 
each  nation  has  its  permanent  delegate,  and  what  more  do 
we  want  ?     A  great  deal  more,  as  you  will  presently  see. 

If  the  Institute  is  to  make  Russia  an  important  factor  in 
determining  the  world's  price  of  the  staples  of  agriculture, 
then  Russia  will  have  to  do  more  than  the  perfunctory  work 
of  leaving  a  Permanent  Committee  man  here  and  putting 
the  results  on  his  shoulders.  Little  effort  accomplishes 
little,  and  this  is  a  big  work ;  and  Russia  cannot  accomplish 
what  she  should  accomplish  by  present  methods.  And 
what  applies  to  Russia  applies  to  other  countries  as  well. 
Russia  should  take  off  her  coat  and  roll  up  her  sleeves,  and 
see  that  the  Institute  performs  the  work  for  which  it  was 
organized. 

More  than  that;  Russia  has  the  reputation  of  being  the 
rarest  diplomat  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  And  it  is 
a  comparatively  easy  thing,  if  Russia  is  in  earnest  about  this 
work,  for  her  to  shape  matters  through  her  diplomatic 
channels  so  as  to  ensure  effective  development.  The  very 
report  of  this  morning's  conversation  which  I  enclose,  shows, 
in  the  words  of  one  of  the  biggest  operators  of  the  grain  mar- 
kets of  the  world,  how  defenceless  Russia  is  at  the  present 
moment,  and  what  a  field  she  offers  for  the  work  of  the 
manipulator. 

Some  of  your  Statesmen  would  be  inclined  to  answer  the 
question  "What  is  Russia's  greatest  need?"  by  the  reply 
"Her  Army  and  Navy."  But  is  there  not  a  probability  that 
it  would  be  more  correct  to  say :  "to  become  a  world  factor 
in  determining  the  price  of  the  staples  of  agriculture?" 
Now,  surely  the  Army  and  Navy  are  not  left  in  the  hands 
of  one  man  like  the  Permanent  Committee  man. 

Please  let  me  hear  from  you,  when  I  will  have  something 
else  to  say  on  this  matter. 

With  high  esteem,  I  remain. 

Yours  very  truly, 

David  Lubin. 

From  the  very  start,  the  importance  of  Russia  as  a  factor 
in  any  movement  which  had  for  its  purpose  the  steadying 


RUSSIA  — THE  BALKANS  — PEACE         253 

of  the  price  of  agricultural  staples  was  keenly  appreciated 
by  Lubin,  appreciated  not  only  as  an  economic  fact,  but  also 
in  connection  with  the  inner  motive,  the  actuating  power 
which  moved  him.  The  desire  to  return  "for  every  blow 
a  benefit,  for  every  curse  a  blessing  ",  made  him  work  with 
special  zeal  in  an  effort  to  free  the  Russian  producer,  the 
moujik,  from  exploitation  by  the  cosmopolitan  price-manipu- 
lator. He  spared  no  efforts  to  bring  the  matter  to  the  at- 
tention of  their  statesmen,  as  the  following  note  he  made 
shows : 

"At  the  time  of  the  initial  advocacy  of  the  Institute,  it 
made  but  feeble  headway  with  Russians.  They  seemed  to 
be  as  impenetrable  to  the  significance  of  this  work  as  the  hide 
of  a  rhinoceros.  The  first  progressive  step  was  the  result  of 
an  afternoon's  chat  in  Rome  with  two  Russian  ladies,  the 
Princess  Bariatinsky  and  the  Princess  Narischkin,  who 
seemed  more  than  usually  intelligent  for  women  on  matters 
of  political  economy.  At  the  conclusion  of  our  conversation 
both  ladies  were  so  favorably  impressed  with  the  idea  em- 
bodied in  the  Institute  that  they  promised  to  send  a  courier 
to  Russia  to  arrange  for  a  representative  Russian  to  meet  me. 
This  meeting  was  held  in  Paris  a  few  months  later,  when  I 
met  the  late  Nicholas  Mourawieff,  afterwards  Ambassador 
in  Rome." 

As  a  result  of  much  effort  Russia  joined  the  Institute,  ap- 
pointed a  delegate  to  the  Permanent  Committee,  was  duly 
represented  by  a  strong  delegation  at  the  General  Assemblies, 
but  still  failed  to  supply  reports  other  than  purely  static 
figures  published  long  after  her  crops  had  been  marketed. 
At  the  General  Assembly  in  May,  1911,  strong  representa- 
tions were  made  to  convince  Russia  that  if  the  work  was  to 
be  dynamic  she  must,  in  compliance  with  her  treaty  ob- 
ligations, send  in  her  figures  in  due  time.  A  world  summary 
of  the  supply  could  have  no  serious  value  if  it  failed  to  give 
the  data  for  Russia.  But  all  representations  to  this  effect 
fell  on  deaf  ears.  The  Russian  delegates  smiled  and  wisely 
remarked  that  Russia  was  a  very  big  country  and  that  the 


254  DAVID  LUBIN 

requisite  organization  would  entail  heavy  expense,  neither 
of  which  items  of  information  were  exactly  news.  Lubin 
packed  up  his  valise  and  left  for  Petersburg. 

His  intention  was  to  place  the  matter  before  the  Imperial 
Chancellor,  Stolypin;  but  Stolypin  was  cruising  in  the 
North  Sea  and  could  not  be  reached.  Inquiry  showed  that 
the  next  best  man  was  his  substitute,  Kokovtsof,  Minister 
of  Finance.  Lubin  wrote  asking  for  an  audience,  and  re- 
questing that  it  might  be  in  some  place  where  they  could 
confer  without  interruption.  He  received  an  invitation  to 
call  on  the  Minister  at  his  home  in  Eleguina  Island  in  the 
Gulf  of  Finland. 

The  American  Ambassador,  Mr.  Curtis  Guild,  was  just 
leaving  his  post  at  Petersburg,  and  so  could  not  act.  Lubin, 
anxious  for  official  support,  turned  to  the  Italian  Ambas- 
sador, for  whom  he  had  letters.  Count  Melegari  willingly 
agreed  to  Lubin's  request,  and  suggested  that  as  he  was 
better  acquainted  with  the  modes  of  approach  in  Russia,  it 
might  be  as  well  if  the  case  were  stated  by  him.  This  was 
agreed  to,  and  on  June  22,  at  6  p.m.,  the  conference  took  place. 

Kokovtsof  listened  politely  to  the  statement  of  the  Italian 
Ambassador,  and  after  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  glanced  at 
the  clock  as  though  to  signify  that  all  had  been  said.  Lubin 
could  see  that  the  opportunity  so  anxiously  sought  was 
slipping  through  his  fingers.  He  had  not  gone  all  that  way 
to  be  "skunked",  as  he  phrased  it.  He  broke  through 
diplomatic  reserve,  and  addressing  the  Minister  said : 

"Our  friend  the  Italian  Ambassador  advised  me,  when  we 
came  here,  to  be  very  diplomatic ;  I  have  been  so  diplomatic 
that  I  have  said  nothing,  and  I  think  that  you  have  under- 
stood nothing.  Now,  I  am  not  accustomed  to  diplomacy, 
but  if  you  will  allow  me  to  speak  plainly  I  think  I  can  make 
this  matter  quite  clear  to  you.  You  must  however  promise 
that  no  offence  will  be  taken  where  none  is  meant." 

The  Ambassador  and  Kokovtsof  glanced  at  each  other 
and  smiled  and  the  Russian  gave  Lubin  the  required  assur- 
ance. 


RUSSIA  — THE  BALKANS  — PEACE         255 

They  were  seated  round  a  table  and  Lubin,  after  a  mo- 
ment's pause,  said : 

"I  see  a  group  of  men  seated  round  this  table, playing 
a  game  of  chess.  They  are  deeply  absorbed  in  the  game ; 
and  one  will  scrutinize  the  board  and  make  a  move,  and  then 
another  will  pause  in  thought  before  moving  his  piece.  So 
intent  are  they  on  the  game  that  they  appear  oblivious  to 
all  else.  But  every  now  and  then  it  seems  as  though  some 
one  under  the  table  were  making  a  feeble  effort  to  claim 
their  attention,  pulling  them  by  the  leg;  and  the  players 
give  an  impatient  kick  under  the  table,  and  sometimes  they 
spit  under  the  table,  and  then  go  on  with  their  game.  Now," 
said  Lubin,  raising  a  corner  of  the  tablecloth,  "I  am  going  to 
see  who  is  under  the  table,"  and  he  peered  underneath. 
**I  see  your  Czar  under  the  table,"  he  exclaimed  dramati- 
ally.  "He's  getting  all  the  kicks  and  the  spits;  and  the 
men  seated  round  the  table  playing  the  game,  they  are  the 
price-manipulators,  the  manipulators  of  Chicago,  and  Liver- 
pool, and  Antwerp;  and  the  pawn  on  the  board,  that's 
Russia,  that 's  your  product,  —  the  economic  strength  of 
your  country.  You  think  yourselves  very  great  and  very 
powerful,  with  your  army,  and  your  navy,  and  your  Czar, 
and  Siberia,  and  all  the  rest ;  and  you  don't  know  that  you  're 
just  a  pawn  in  the  hind  pants'  pocket  of  the  speculator. 
Now  what  I  want  to  do  is  to  take  your  Czar  out  from  under 
the  table,  give  him  a  seat  at  the  table,  and  let  him  share  in 
playing  the  game.  Let  Russia  play  her  part  in  the  Institute, 
and  let  it  be  Russia,  and  not  private  crop-reporting  agencies, 
who  gives  out  to  the  world  the  figures  for  Russia's  crops." 

"Oh,  that's  what  you  want,  is  it?"  exclaimed  Kokovtsof, 
whose  attention  had  been  riveted  by  the  unusual  mode  of 
presentation.     "That's  quite  interesting." 

"Yes;  that's  it,"  said  Lubin;  "and  I  came  here  to  ask 
you  to  see  that  Russia  plays  the  game  squarely.  You  think 
you  are  very  clever  when  you  boost  up  your  bonds  in  Paris  or 
London  by  giving  out  figures  for  a  big  crop ;  but  you  don't 
realize  that  by  so  doing  you  are  ruining  your  own  producers. 


256  DAVID  LUBIN 

depressing  the  price  for  the  Russian  farmer,  and  incidentally 
depressing  it  for  the  American  farmer  and  for  the  farmers 
all  over."  And  he  went  on  to  show  that  the  claim  made 
that  Russia  was  too  poorly  organized  to  supply  information 
on  her  crop  conditions  and  supply  was  untenable. 

"You  are  Minister  of  Finance,"  he  said,  addressing 
Kokovtsof.  "Now,  I  have  never  been  a  minister,  but  I  have 
been  at  the  head  of  a  business  house,  and  I  know  that  I 
could  not  conduct  my  store  for  one  week  if  I  couldn't  ascer- 
tain at  any  moment  the  state  of  the  business.  And  how 
could  you  maintain  your  budget  or  draw  up  your  estimates 
if  you  didn't  know  the  state  of  the  crops  which  are  the 
wealth  of  Russia  .^^  It  would  be  an  impossibility.  Why, 
such  a  fact  is  known  to  a  certain  extent  even  in  so  feebly 
organized  a  country  as  Morocco." 

He  left  with  a  promise  that  Kokovtsof  would  take  the 
matter  up  in  the  Council  of  the  Empire.  And  sure  enough,  a 
month  or  two  later  an  ukase  was  issued,  reforming  the  agri- 
cultural statistical  services  in  Russia,  and  from  September  of 
that  year,  until  the  revolutionary  collapse,  the  figures  for  the 
Russian  supply  appeared  regularly  in  the  Institute's  reports. 

We  have  heard  much  talk  of  late  years  of  the  need  of 
applying  business  methods  to  government ;  David  Lubin's 
work  affords  a  notable  instance  of  what  can  be  achieved  by 
applying  the  simple  and  direct  methods  of  the  intelligent 
business  man  to  international  affairs.  He  used  often  to  say 
that  altogether  too  much  mystery  and  respect  surrounds 
governments.  His  experience  was  that  when  you  get 
through  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  you  find  just  or- 
dinary men,  who  frequently  have  but  a  very  vague  notion 
of  the  matters  over  which  they  are  supposed  to  preside. 
To  presume  that  they  know  all  about  them  and  to  talk  as  if 
they  did  is  to  court  failure.  Lubin  would  preface  his  re- 
marks by  "of  course,  you  know  better  than  I",  but  for  all 
that  he  would  never  be  so  careful  to  give  a  clear  and  com- 
plete —  though  concise  —  statement  of  the  case  as  when  he 
was  talking  to  men  in  high  position. 


RUSSIA  — THE  BALKANS  — PEACE         257 

While  such  direct,  dynamic  action  won  victory  it  also 
frequently  aroused  opposition.  Lubin  spent  the  summer  of 
1909  in  Gennany  with  his  family  and  from  there  conducted 
a  lively  campaign  to  secure  a  United  States  delegation  to  the 
second  General  Assembly  which  was  to  convene  in  November 
of  that  year.  Congress  had  failed  to  make  the  requisite 
appropriation,  and  Lubin  was  informed  by  the  State  De- 
partment that  there  could  be  no  delegation  unless,  indeed, 
people  could  be  found  wUling  to  go  to  Rome  at  their  own 
expense.  OflBcialdom  evidently  thought  that  the  last  word 
had  been  said  in  the  matter.  But  Lubin  did  not  understand 
it  that  way.  He  took  this  information  as  equivalent  to 
authorization  to  seek  for  such  persons.  He  requisitioned  the 
aid  of  his  wife  and  daughters  in  the  actual  task  of  penman- 
ship and  addressed  a  personal  letter  to  every  Governor,  to 
every  Mayor,  to  every  club  of  any  importance  in  the  United 
States,  requesting  that  they  should  forward  to  the  State 
Department  the  names  of  suitable  persons  willing  to  serve 
as  delegates.  The  result  was  an  indignant  letter  from  the 
State  Department  stating  that  "this  Department  has  been 
simply  flooded  with  letters"  from  representative  men  offering 
themselves  for  appointment.  The  over-zealous  delegate 
was  curtly  warned  not  to  take  upon  himself  the  "duties 
of  Secretary  of  State."  Anyhow,  Lubin  won  his  point; 
to  avoid  invidious  discrimination  among  the  many  volun- 
teers, the  Department  decided  to  send  its  own  men,  and  the 
United  States  was  represented  at  the  General  Assembly. 

Lubin  felt  that  the  Balkan  States  could  afford  evidence 
of  the  value  of  his  contention  that  even  primitive  countries 
could  supply  information  on  their  crop  conditions  if  the 
reason  of  the  inquiry  were  made  plain  to  them  and  the  ques- 
tions submitted  in  simple  form.  Moreover,  he  would  test 
out  his  contention  with  the  Secretary  General  of  the  Institute, 
Conmiendatore  Koch,  who  considered  that  when  an  inquiry 
had  been  duly  sent  out  all  that  was  needed  had  been  done. 
Inquiries  on  crop  conditions  had  been  sent  to  Serbia,  Bulgaria 
and  Rumania ;  no  replies  had  been  received ;  and  there  the 


258  DAVID   LUBIN 

matter  ended  so  far  as  Commendatore  Koch  was  concerned ; 
whereas  Lubin,  applying  to  this  case  the  same  policy  he  would 
have  followed  in  hunting  up  a  customer  who  owed  a  large 
bill  for  goods  delivered,  was  a  strong  advocate  of  a  policy 
of  *' follow-ups."  The  dignified  Foreign  OflSce  oflBcials  who 
at  that  time  were  at  the  helm,  were  always  reminding  Lubin 
that  the  Institute  was  not  a  "business  house"  :  Lubin,  who 
looked  for  results  and  cared  little  or  nothing  for  etiquette, 
thought  he  would  take  this  opportunity  to  test  the  soundness 
of  their  relative  positions.  The  Balkan  countries  were  all 
in  arrears  with  their  dues ;  and  here  also  Lubin  believed  that 
the  right  means  had  not  been  used  to  achieve  the  end  in  view, 
that  more  was  needed  than  a  mere  official  notice  to  pay. 
Demonstrate  to  those  governments  that  it  was  in  their  in- 
terest to  pay,  and  the  money  would  be  forthcoming,  was 
his  claim. 

Accompanied  on  his  mission  by  the  delegate  of  the  Argen- 
tine Republic,  Mr.  Julio  Llanos,  by  myself  as  interpreter, 
and  with  his  daughter  Eva  to  make  up  a  quartette,  this 
unusual  diplomatic  mission  left  Rome  for  Belgrade  as  its 
first  goal. 

In  those  days  the  capital  of  Serbia  was  a  small,  straggling 
town  with  much  of  the  overgrown  village  about  it,  but  it 
boasted  a  handsome,  modern  hotel,  the  Mosca,  where  we 
put  up.  Lubin  drove  up  and  down  its  rough-paved  streets 
in  ramshackle  cabs  which  were  regular  bone-shakers,  and 
between  his  official  calls  on  Ministers  enjoyed  sampling 
Serbian  cookery,  which  was  much  to  his  taste,  in  the  local 
restaurants;  watching  the  picturesquely  dressed  crowds; 
and  listening  to  the  remarkable  playing  of  gypsy  fiddlers 
who  are  a  feature  of  those  parts.  He  also  took  in  the  sights, 
among  which  was  the  citadel  commanding  a  view  of  the 
neighboring  Hungarian  Zemlin.  I  remember  the  Serbian 
officer,  who  accompanied  us,  shaking  his  fist  at  it  and  de- 
claring that  all  Serbia  —  men,  women,  and  boys  —  would 
have  risen  that  summer  as  one  man  to  fight  the  hated  Aus- 
trians  had  they  not  been  betrayed  by  the  Russians.     (It  was 


RUSSIA  — THE   BALKANS  — PEACE  259 

the  year  of  the  arbitrary  annexation  of  Bosnia  and  Herzego- 
vina, when  Franz  Joseph  started  the  fatal  fashion  of  treating 
solemn  treaties  as  scraps  of  paper.)  We  were  also  shown  as 
the  most  notable  historical  sights  the  town  could  boast  the 
spot  where  the  Turks  used  to  impale  their  prisoners,  and  the 
paving  stone,  outside  the  cathedral,  under  which  lie  the  re- 
mains of  the  murdered  King  Alexander  and  his  Queen  Draga. 

But  Lubin  had  come  to  demonstrate  that  the  age  of  the 
kid-glove  diplomat  was  making  way  for  that  of  the  economist, 
and  his  time  was  busily  occupied  in  a  round  of  oflBcial  con- 
ferences. Presenting  themselves  in  their  official  capacity 
as  delegates  of  the  United  States  and  the  Argentine  Republic, 
Lubin  and  his  colleague  readily  gained  access  to  the  President 
of  the  Council.  Lubin  took  up  the  question  of  arrears, 
showed  that  by  the  payment  of  a  small  sum  Serbia  placed 
herself  on  a  footing  of  equality  in  the  matter  of  securing 
world  information  on  the  supply  of  the  staples  with  countries 
such  as  the  United  States  which  spend  millions  of  dollars 
annually  on  organizing  crop-reporting  systems,  and  obtained 
a  promise,  duly  kept,  that  the  money  would  be  paid  up. 
With  the  Minister  of  Agriculture,  Mr.  Yacha  Predanovitch, 
Lubin  drove  his  lesson  home,  illustrating  his  meaning  by 
the  example  of  a  "surprise  party."  Each  guest  is  supposed 
to  bring  a  contribution.  One  comes  with  the  chickens, 
another  brings  the  pie,  others  the  bread,  the  whiskey,  the 
fiddle,  and  so  forth.  "But,"  he  said,  "it  sometimes  happens 
that  some  one  says  to  himself,  '  Who  '11  notice  whether  I 
bring  a  contribution  or  not  ?  I  '11  sneak  in  and  get  my  share 
of  the  good  things  and  no  one  will  be  any  the  wiser.'  Well, 
this  is  what  Serbia  is  doing  in  the  Institute.  You're  there, 
all  right,  to  get  any  advantage  you  can  out  of  the  reports, 
but  where  is  your  contribution?  Where  are  Serbia's  re- 
plies to  the  Institute's  inquiries?" 

This  plain  speaking  produced  the  desired  effect ;  there  was  a 
considerable  flutter  in  the  Ministerial  dovecotes,  but  inquiries 
showed  that  the  Institute's  communications  had  gone  astray. 
Here  was  evidence  of  the  need  of  Lubin's  follow-up  plan. 


260  DAVID   LUBIN 

Bulgaria  and  Rumania  were  visited  with  similar  results, 
and  Lubin  was  able  to  report  to  the  President  of  the  Institute 
that  delegates  would  be  sent  to  the  General  Assembly,  that 
the  contributions  would  be  promptly  paid,  and  that  the 
Balkan  States  would  have  effective  representation  on  the 
Permanent  Committee. 

As  to  this  last  matter,  I  remember  the  consternation  — 
the  word  is  none  too  strong — Lubin  produced  when  he  drew 
the  attention  of  the  Rumanian  Ministers  to  the  fact  that  the 
representation  of  their  country  had  been  intrusted  to  the 
delegate  of  Abyssinia !  They  doubtless  pictured  a  swarthy 
Ethiopian  representing  the  France  of  the  Balkans  in  an  inter- 
national assembly.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Abyssinian 
delegate  was  a  learned  Italian  phytopathologist,  but  Lubin 
left  them  to  find  that  out  for  themselves.  The  matter  was 
immediately  remedied,  and  on  our  return  to  Rome  we  found 
a  Rumanian  on  the  Permanent  Committee. 

Bukarest  in  those  days  was  indeed  a  gay  city.  Unlike 
the  other  Balkan  States,  where  all  seemed  poor  and  none 
poverty-stricken,  Rumania  was  a  land  of  great  contrasts  of 
wealth  and  destitution.  In  the  good  restaurants  nobody 
seemed  to  drink  anything  less  costly  than  champagne; 
the  women  were  as  elegantly  dressed  as  in  Paris,  the  music 
played  by  gypsy  orchestras  was  as  good  as  it  was  character- 
istic. The  Government  Departments  were  marble  palaces 
on  a  scale  of  magnificence  which  seemed  quite  beyond  what 
the  wealth  and  importance  of  the  country  justified.  In 
Serbia  and  Bulgaria  you  had  the  sensation  of  a  democracy, 
—  primitive,  but  genuine.  I  remember  Lubin  being  much 
impressed  by  seeing  that  a  large  percentage  of  the  members 
of  the  Skupshtina  wore  peasant  costume  and  were  the  genu- 
ine "horny-handed"  sons  of  toil.  In  Rumania  you  felt 
the  vicinity  of  Russia ;  wealth  and  luxury  superimposed  on 
ignorance,  and  ruthless  exploitation  of  the  many  by  the  few. 

While  in  Bukarest  a  conference  was  arranged  between 
Lubin  and  Take  Jonescu,  then  out  of  office,  but  no  less  a 
power  in  the  land  for  that.     To  this  man,  in  whom  Lubin 


RUSSIA  — THE  BALKANS  —  PEACE         261 

recognized  at  sight  a  statesman  with  whom  it  was  not  neces- 
sary to  confine  himself  to  the  "pork  and  cabbage"  aspects 
of  the  case,  he  spoke  with  all  the  fervor  of  a  prophet,  pro- 
ducing a  profound  and  lasting  impression.  He  also  had  an 
audience  with  the  Queen,  Carmen  Sylva. 

Lubin  gave  up  the  idea  of  going  to  St.  Petersburg,  but 
before  leaving  the  Balkans  he  ran  down  to  Constantinople, 
managed  through  the  good  oflSces  of  the  Italian  Ambassador, 
Marchese  Imperiali,  to  get  an  audience  with  the  Grand 
Vizier,  and  secured  from  His  Highness,  Hilmi  Pasha,  ratifi- 
cation of  the  Treaty,  a  permanent  delegate,  and  payment 
of  Turkey's  dues  as  a  first-class  power.  Such  an  impression 
did  Lubin  make  on  the  Grand  Vizier  that  on  reaching  Rome 
he  was  informed  by  the  President  of  the  Institute  that  the 
Turkish  Government  had  remitted  the  two  years*  contribu- 
tion for  which  it  was  in  arrears,  by  telegraphic  draft ! 

Of  this  reception  by  the  Grand  Vizier  Lubin,  on  his  return 
to  Rome,  wrote  to  the  Marchese  Imperiali  (December  1, 
1909) : 

You  will  not  have  failed  to  notice  the  significance,  from 
a  diplomatic  point  of  view,  of  the  favorable  reception  ac- 
corded to  the  presentation  you  made  .  .  .  there  was  a 
genuine  ring  of  sincerity  when  the  Grand  Vizier  arose  towards 
the  close  of  your  presentation  and,  grasping  both  your  hands, 
poured  forth  his  heartfelt  thanks.  As  an  onlooker  and  an 
observer,  I  could  not  fail  to  note  the  significance  of  this 
result  of  your  effort,  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was  an  effort 
prompted  entirely  by  disinterested  motives.  I  remember 
drawing  your  attention  to  this,  pointing  out  that  no  more 
powerful  instrument  for  cordial  entente  between  the  nations 
exists  than  that  which  can  be  exercised  by  the  diplomats  of 
Italy  everywhere,  who  in  promoting  the  interests  of  the  In- 
stitute disinterestedly  promote  the  best  interests  of  the 
countries  to  which  they  are  accredited. 

But  while  Lubin's  every  faculty  was  concentrated  on  the 
effort  of  convincing  all  whom  he  approached  of  the  vital 
importance  of  a  world  summary  of  the  staple  crops  "ex- 


262  DAVID  LUBIN 

pressed  as  a  single  numerical  statement",  the  fiery  energy, 
the  enthusiasm,  which  he  brought  to  his  task  are  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  he  never  forgot  that  this  prosaic  work 
was  a  link  in  a  chain,  a  step  toward  insuring  world  conditions 
favorable  to  a  lasting  peace,  peace  which  would  allow  of  the 
gradual  evolution  of  that  ultimate  Commonwealth  of  Nations 
which  he  believed  it  was  the  mission  of  Israel  to  bring  about. 
This  faith  that  was  in  him  was  the  saving  grace  which  pre- 
served him  from  becoming  a  bore,  just  as  his  business  train- 
ing turned  his  energies  toward  concrete  action  and  saved 
him  from  becoming  an  idle  dreamer.  A  whole  vast  plan  of 
world  organization  was  maturing  in  his  mind ;  the  pro- 
vincialism of  Sacramento,  the  particularism  of  America,  were 
left  far  behind  :  he  thought  internationally.  Into  this,  the 
real  inner  man,  we  get  a  glimpse  in  the  following  letter  to 
the  Queen  of  Rumania : 

Rome,  14th  November,  1909. 
To  Her  Majesty 

The  Queen  of  Roumania. 
Your  Majesty : 

You  were  good  enough  to  express  the  wish  that  I  should  for- 
ward to  Your  Majesty  some  further  literature  on  the  subject  of 
the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture.  In  compliance  I 
have  the  honor  to  enclose  herewith  some  documents,  mainly 
correspondence,  bearing  on  the  subject.  I  also  enclose  a 
copy  of  the  report  of  the  journey  that  Seflor  Llanos  and 
myself  have  just  taken  in  the  interests  of  the  Institute. 

What  particularly  impressed  itself  upon  my  mind  was  the 
interest  Your  Majesty  took  in  the  Institute  in  its  aspect  as 
promotor  of  Peace,  Peace  among  the  Nations.  It  was  this 
phase  of  the  question  which  mainly  prompted  His  Majesty, 
the  King  of  Italy,  to  take  the  initiative  in  the  movement. 

At  the  first  glance  it  may  seem  that  Disarmament  is  the 
road  to  Peace,  but  it  is  evident  that  Disarmament  is  one 
thing  and  Equity  in  Exchange  is  another.  So  long  as  dis- 
armament would  not  remove  the  inequities  in  exchange 
which  now  exist,  then  so  long  would  disarmament  bring  no 
Peace ;  it  would,  on  the  contrary,  bring  War. 

Perhaps  the  most  far-seeing  political  economists  that  the 


RUSSIA  — THE   BALKANS  — PEACE  263 

world  has  ever  produced  were  the  prophets  that  speak  to  us 
through  the  Scriptures.  They  spoke  to  us  of  "  swords  being 
beaten  into  plowshares,  spears  into  pruning  hooks,  when 
nation  shall  not  lift  up  arm  against  nation,  when  wars  shall 
be  no  more."  But  when?  When  "Knowledge  shall  cover 
the  earth  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea."  And  toward  this 
end  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  there  shall  be  an  author- 
itative summary  of  the  world's  agricultural  supply,  and  that 
this  supply  be  known  to  all  the  world,  and  this  is  what  the 
Institute  stands  for,  and  it  therefore  stands  for  the  World's 
Peace.  Whatever  jealousies,  diverse  usages,  or  selifish  in- 
terests there  be  that  may  tend  to  divide  the  nations,  we  have 
at  last  in  this  Institution  a  unifying  factor  upon  which  all 
can  agree,  all  must  agree.  The  reward  of  agreement  is 
increased  national  life;  the  penalty  for  disagreement  must 
ultimately  be  national  decay ;  the  decay  hastened  in  propor- 
tion to  the  rapid  growth  of  manipulation,  which  rapid  growth 
is  only  too  plainly  evident  in  our  day.  And  what  is  its 
keystone  ?  What  but  the  private  knowledge  of  the  world's 
supply  of  the  staples  of  agriculture  ? 

But  it  is  not  suflScient  that  the  work  has  been  begun. 
Your  Majesty  may  remember  the  fears  that  I  expressed; 
fears  which  have  facts  for  foundation.  These  fears  are  that 
the  powers  of  evil  are  at  work,  silently  and  of ttimes  potently, 
to  destroy  the  edifice  which  it  is  attempted  to  rear.  This 
power  is  as  crafty  as  Satan  himself  and  almost  as  powerful. 
The  pioneers  of  the  Institute  stretch  forth  their  hands 
appealingly  for  help;  help  that  will  dispel  the  destroyers, 
help  that  shall  aid  us  with  the  one  hand  to  build  and  with 
the  other  to  wield  the  sword.  Upon  the  coins  of  England 
we  see  the  eflBgy  of  St.  George  slaying  the  Dragon.  Here  in 
Rome  is  Guido  Reni's  Michael  overcoming  the  Devil.  Al- 
most all  the  heroic  nations  have  some  such  representation, 
the  representation  of  Right  overcoming  Evil,  and  in  the  mat- 
ter we  are  now  discussing  we  have  a  vivid  materialization  of 
what  was  mainly  meant  by  the  Prophets  of  old  in  their  cry 
**  Righteousness." 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain. 

Your  Majesty's  most  humble  servant, 
David  Lubiu. 


264  DAVID  LUBIN 

His  views  on  this  aspect  of  the  work  were  further  de- 
veloped in  a  paper  he  wrote  in  1911  for  the  International 
Races  Congress,  from  which  I  quote  the  following :  — 

But  a  most  important  function  of  the  Institute  has  yet 
to  be  stated,  the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture  is 
destined  to  become  the  World's  Temple  of  Peace.  .  .  . 

There  are  any  amount  of  fine  speeches  delivered  on  Peace 
and  ever  so  many  excellent  articles  on  disarmament,  but 
the  real  road  towards  peace  between  the  nations  is  through 
an  international  parliament,  a  parliament  on  the  lines  of  the 
International  Institute  of  Agriculture,  on  lines  of  economic 
betterment. 

Speeches  are  made,  papers  are  written  showing  how  in- 
creased armaments  all  work  toward  increased  armaments 
(a  vicious  circle  indeed) ;  thus  we  arrive  at  the  reductio  ad 
absurdum  of  armaments.  But  we  too  often  overlook  the 
fact  that  there  is  also  a  reductio  ad  absurdum  of  disarmament. 
Shall  the  United  States  and  England  form  a  coalition  stipu- 
lating for  the  disarmament  of  both  ?  There  are,  no  doubt, 
half  a  dozen  other  Great  Powers  that  would  be  pleased  with 
such  an  arrangement.  But  what  guarantee  would  there  be 
that  under  such  limited  disarmament  they  would  not  both 
presently  be  overwhelmed  and  swallowed  up  by  inferior 
civilizations  ? 

There  is  but  one  practical  avenue  toward  ultimate  and 
lasting  peace,  peace  among  the  nations,  and  that  avenue  is 
through  a  permanent  International  Parliament,  a  parliament 
for  economic  betterment.  .  .  . 

That  the  time  is  close  at  hand  when  the  permanent,  con- 
tinuous existence  of  such  an  economic  parliament  will  be 
an  imperative  necessity  is  evidenced  by  the  following : 
First,  the  increase  of  population;  second,  the  spread  of 
general  intelligence ;  third,  the  general  demand  for  a  higher 
standard  of  living;  fourth,  the  increase  in  the  power  of 
corporate  bodies ;  fifth,  the  decrease  in  the  economic  avenues 
open  to  individual  initiative ;  sixth,  the  decrease  of  time  in 
transmission  and  transit ;  seventh,  the  gain  through  cooper- 
ative systems,  and  the  need  of  applying  these  systems  on 
international  lines.  .  .  . 


RUSSIA  — THE  BALKANS  — PEACE  265 

The  sages  and  prophets  of  our  day  find  their  task  easier 
than  of  yore,  for  the  time  has  come  at  last  when  it  is  be- 
ginning to  be  understood  that  robbery,  covetous  greed,  or 
disorder  is  not  nearly  so  profitable  as  Equity,  Service  and 
Order.  It  is  now  beginning  to  be  understood  that  the  eco- 
nomic gloom  of  one  country  casts  its  dark  shadow  of  loss  and 
suflFering  on  all  other  countries,  and  that  the  sun  of  prosperity 
which*  shines  in  one  country  casts  its  beneficent  rays  abroad, 
blessing  all  other  countries. 

Through  what  seas  of  blood  and  tears  the  human  family 
was  to  pass  before  that  truth  would  be  brought  home  to  it 
with  a  tragic  force  which  each  month  since  the  signing  of 
the  Peace  of  VersaiUes  only  emphasizes,  Lubin  then  had  no 
glimmering,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  man  who  wrote  this 
paper  in  May,  1911,  is  entitled  to  be  considered  a  pioneer 
of  the  movement  for  a  League  of  Nations.  Writing  a  few 
months  later  (November,  1911),  he  says  in  a  paper  published 
in  the  American  Israelite  under  the  title  "The  Mission  of 
Israel  and  a  Commonwealth  of  Nations"  :  — 

The  maximum  measure  of  economic  benefit  may  no  longer 
be  attained  by  confining  economic  activity  within  the 
boundaries  of  any  one  nation  .  .  .  the  maximum  measure 
of  economic  benefits  demands  the  unhampered  operation 
of  economic  laws  throughout  the  whole  world,  and  such 
unhampered  operation  can  only  be  secured  by  a  Confedera- 
tion of  the  Nations. 

Happily  evidences  are  at  hand  indicating  that  the  trend 
of  events  is  towards  the  realization  of  such  a  Confederation. 
.  .  .  Reviewing  this  phase  in  the  historic  life  of  mankind, 
it  would  seem  as  though  the  illuminated  minds  of  the  Proph- 
ets had  seen  far  ahead,  right  through  the  intervening  ages 
which  have  led  up  to  the  civilization  of  our  time ;  and  be- 
yond our  time  to  the  realization  of  the  evolutionary  progress 
which  is  now  working  itself  out,  and  which  is  yet  to  cul- 
minate in  the  great  World  Commonwealth. 

The  Government  of  a  nation  is,  after  all,  but  an  organ- 
ization carrying  on  its  business  by  means  of  a  number  of 
departments,  such  as  the  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs, 


266  DAVID   LUBIN 

of  Home  Affairs,  of  Finance,  of  the  Treasury,  Commerce 
and  Labor,  Agriculture,  Education,  Justice,  the  Post-oflBce, 
the  Army  and  the  Navy.  It  is  the  union  of  these  depart- 
ments under  the  direction  of  the  presiding  officer  in  the 
Cabinet  which  constitutes  the  executive  branch  of  Govern- 
ment. Now,  international  bodies,  organized  to  render 
similar  services,  would,  when  federated,  constitute  an  inter- 
national government. 

The  Institute,  in  Lubin's  mind,  was  but  the  first  of  these 
International  Departments. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

TEN  YEARS   OF  WORK   FOR  AMERICA 

David  Lubin  used  to  compare  the  International  Institute 
of  Agriculture  to  an  Eiffel  Tower,  an  observatory  whence 
you  could  secure  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  surrounding  agri- 
cultural landscape,  note  its  features,  make  comparisons,  draw 
deductions  and  generalizations.  And  he  interpreted  the 
duties  of  a  delegate  as  twofold :  when  in  the  assembly  halls 
and  committee  rooms  he  was  an  internationalist,  viewing 
things  from  a  general  and  not  a  particularist  standpoint; 
when  in  his  private  office,  under  his  national  flag,  he  became 
American,  Spaniard,  Japanese,  English,  as  the  case  might  be, 
and  worked  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  farmers  of  his 
own  country. 

So  for  ten  long  years  in  that  "American  Room",  hung 
with  portraits  of  his  pioneer  co-workers  in  the  early  days  of 
the  struggle,  with  the  characteristic  stone  pines  of  Rome 
peeping  in  at  the  windows,  looking  down  on  the  lovely  wooded 
grounds  of  the  Borghese  gardens,  the  majestic  dome  of 
St.  Peter's  in  the  distance,  a  constant  reminder  of  the  dream 
of  Unity  in  University  and  of  Catholicity,  David  Lubin 
worked  unceasingly  for  the  American  farmers. 

While  he  felt  that  they  had  much  to  teach  —  and  he  would 
point  with  pride  to  the  splendid  marketing  organization 
of  the  fruit  growers  —  he  also  knew  they  had  much  to  learn, 
especially  in  the  field  of  agricultural  economics.  In  those 
years  the  great  trusts  in  farm  products  —  the  meat  trust, 
the  dairy  trust,  the  egg  trust,  the  tobacco  trust,  the  many 
combines  organized  to  buy  cheap  and  sell  dear  —  were  the 
subject  of  constant  comment  and  criticism  in  the  press,  and 
proposals  for  restrictive  legislation  to  curb  their  activities 
were  brought  forward  both  in  and  out  of  Congress. 


268  DAVID   LUBIN 

Lubin  felt  that  the  evil  complained  of  was  essentially  the 
result  of  the  financial  helplessness  of  the  American  farmer ; 
that  the  remedy  lay  in  strengthening  him  rather  than  in 
fighting  the  trust.  The  farmer  should  be  not  only  the  pro- 
ducer but  also,  to  an  extent,  the  merchant  of  the  crops  he 
raised ;  no  less  than  the  manufacturer  he  should  have  a  voice 
in  determining  the  price  and  mode  of  distribution  of  his 
product.  But  to  make  this  possible  he  must  possess  an 
organization  able  to  advise  him  where  and  how  to  sell,  and 
a  system  of  rural  and  land  credits  enabling  him  to  finance 
his  business  on  terms  of  equality  with  the  merchant.  His 
assets  must  be  rendered  liquid  and  available  for  reinvestment 
in  his  farm  in  the  form  of  improvements.  Surveying  the 
situation  from  the  elevation  of  the  Institute,  Lubin  saw  that 
this  desideratum  was  no  idle  dream  but  well  within  the 
bounds  of  possibility,  for  the  European  farmers,  and  more 
especially  the  farmers  of  Central  Europe,  had,  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  attained  all  this,  in  a  large  measure  through 
cooperative  organization. 

It  seemed  to  Lubin  that  in  America  the  emphasis  had  so 
far  been  placed  too  exclusively  on  the  need  of  increasing 
and  improving  production.  "Raise  two  ears  of  com  where 
one  used  to  grow"  is  a  good  cry,  provided  that  the  farmer 
who  raises  the  ears  is  enabled  to  market  them  profitably; 
otherwise  the  increased  yield  may  become  a  real  injury  to 
the  producer  without  any  compensatory  benefit  to  the  con- 
suming public,  for  the  ruinously  low  prices  forced  on  the 
farmer  are  rarely  if  ever  reflected  in  low  prices  to  the  ul- 
timate buyer;  while  poverty  on  the  farms  reacts  at  once 
on  the  towns  by  reducing  work  in  the  factories. 

These  ideas  were  not  new  to  David  Lubin.  As  we  have 
seen,  he  was  trying,  before  he  left  America  in  1904,  to  edu- 
cate the  Grange  along  these  lines;  but  the  experience  he 
gained  in  Europe  and  the  publications  of  the  Institute  on 
cooperative  credit  and  organization,  confirmed  by  the 
evidence  of  positive  data  beliefs  which  had  previously  been 
largely  intuitional.     As  early  as  1907,  when  in  Washington 


TEN   YEARS  OF  WORK  FOR  AMERICA     269 

for  the  ratification  of  the  Institute  Treaty,  he  had  tried  to 
bring  the  question  of  rural  credits  to  the  attention  of  Pres- 
ident Roosevelt,  to  whom  he  wrote  on  October  29  of  that 
year: — 

I  am  on  my  way  to  Rome  and  wish  to  consult  you  con- 
cerning the  work  of  the  International  Institute  of  Agri- 
culture, which  private  advices  inform  me  will  have  its  first 
meeting  in  April,  1908.  ...  I  wish  also  personally  to  thank 
you  for  the  honor  of  making  me  the  delegate  to  the  Per- 
manent Committee  of  the  Institute. 

My  studies  and  observations  in  Europe  make  me  feel 
that  the  Raiffeisen  and  Schultze-Delitsch  systems  of  coopera- 
tive credit  associations  would  lift  the  Southern  producer  of 
cotton  and  tobacco  from  the  payment  of  ten  to  one  hundred 
per  cent,  interest  entailed  by  the  crop  lien  credit  system, 
and  give  him  money  at  six  per  cent.  Your  assistance  is 
needed  to  aid  in  causing  associations  to  be  started  in  each 
cotton  and  tobacco  State. 

His  persistence  in  this  matter  with  the  members  of  the 
Administration,  more  especially  with  the  Under-Secretary 
of  State,  Mr.  Robert  Bacon,  during  the  months  he  spent 
in  Washington  in  1907,  attracted  some  attention ;  but 
veiled  hostility  of  "special  interests"  combined  with  the 
tendency  to  deal  with  such  matters  along  sentimental  rather 
than  purely  economic  lines,  so  frequent  in  the  American 
treatment  of  rural  problems,  got  the  upper  hand.  A  twist 
was  given  to  the  movement,  shunting  it  off  the  line  of  sound 
economic  betterment  through  good  farm  finance  on  to  the 
semi-rhetorical  and  dilettante  track  of  the  "rural  life  move- 
ment", tacked  on  to  that  for  the  conservation  of  natural 
resources ;  a  question,  this  latter,  of  vast  import,  and  one 
to  which,  as  we  have  seen,  Lubin  had  devoted  no  small 
amount  of  thought  in  the  early  nineties,  when  it  was  still 
a  neglected  issue. 

Lubin's  mental  make-up  rendered  him  impatient  of  all 
tinkering  with  effects  while  neglecting  causes.  He  was 
convinced  that  all  the  American  farmer  needed  was  help  and 


270  DAVID  LUBIN 

guidance  in  securing  for  himself  a  sound  system  of  farm 
finance  and  a  really  national  —  i.e.,  nation-wide  organization 
which  would  keep  him  informed  on  profitable  channels  for 
marketing  his  produce,  just  as  the  merchant  is  assisted  in 
his  business  by  the  guidance  afforded  by  Chambers  of 
Commerce  and  similar  organization.  Give  him  these  and 
all  the  rest  —  a  better  rural  community  life,  pleasant  and 
healthy  surroundings,  etc.  —  would  be  added  unto  him. 

"There  is  no  need  to  teach  the  farmer  to  blow  his  nose 
or  his  wife  to  dance  a  polka ;  make  the  business  of  farming 
profitable  and  there  will  be  no  need  to  worry  about  the  rural 
exodus,"  I  have  often  heard  him  exclaim. 

If  his  efforts  had  so  far  failed  to  arouse  the  interest  which 
the  subject  deserved,  Lubin  was  not  discouraged.  It  only 
meant  that  he  had  not  yet  used  the  right  means  to  ends.  At 
one  time  he  thought  help  might  come  from  the  cotton  manu- 
facturers, directly  interested  as  they  are  in  the  prosperity 
of  the  cotton-growing  industry.  He  wrote  to  his  friend. 
Sir  Charles  Macara,  who  had  sent  him  the  report  of  the 
International  Cotton  Association : 

Please  bear  in  mind  the  following :  —  The  Southern 
cotton  grower  is  an  exception ;  among  all  the  farmers  of  the 
United  States  he  alone  can  only  buy  at  "six  cents  cash  or 
twelve  cents  credit."  And  who,  in  the  end,  must  pay  for  this 
crooked,  curious,  hazardous,  wasteful,  and  absurd  system? 
The  producer?  Yes;  but  not  he  alone  but  the  consumer, 
the  poor  consumer  of  cotton.  And  so  we  see  that  we  are 
our  brother's  keeper  if  only  we  mean  to  "keep"  ourselves 
and  to  do  it  rationally. 

.  .  .  You  will  have  to  take  a  direct  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  the  Southern  cotton  grower.  You  will  have  to  fur- 
nish him  with  many  millions  of  dollars  and  at  the  lowest 
possible  world's  rate  of  interest.  You  will  have  to  introduce 
in  the  Southern  States  the  Raiffeisen  and  the  Schultze-De- 
litsch  Credit  systems,  and  you  will  have  to  see  that  there 
is  no  manner  of  exploitation  in  all  this  effort,  and  then  you 
may  not  alone  have  what  you  want  (cotton  at  a  reasonable 
price)  but  you  will  have  what  you  cannot  otherwise  have; 


TEN  YEARS  OF  WORK  FOR  AMERICA    271 

you  will  then  have  "steady"  cotton.  And  in  this  way  only 
may  you  provide  the  necessary  supply  of  raw  material  and 
with  a  minimum  of  unnecessary  fluctuations,  and  thus 
render  your  fifty  million  spindles  steady  interest  earners, 
and  redeem  your  Labor  from  the  mood  of  radical  agitation 
and  its  suggestive  evils.  And  in  doing  all  this  you  will  be 
doing  something  besides ;  you  will  show  that  the  theory  of 
Machiavelli,  the  theory  of  the  "rule  of  the  fist",  is  profitless ; 
that  we  may  serve  ourselves  best  by  serving  others.  Perhaps 
I  have  not  made  myself  sufficiently  plain;  perhaps  your 
people  are  not  yet  prepared  to  act  on  this  mode  of  procedure, 
but  the  time  will  surely  be  here  when  Reciprocal  Service 
shall  be  the  highway  to  means  towards  economic  ends.  It 
may  take  a  month,  a  year,  a  century,  or  many  centuries  to 
realize  this,  but  some  day  it  will  as  surely  be  realized  as  the 
thousands  of  other  developments  upward,  evolved  from  the 
impulse  towards  progress. 

Persistent  tenacity  was  the  outstanding  feature  of  Lubin's 
character,  and  though  he  got  scant  response,  he  never  ceased 
urging  the  need  for  a  sound  system  of  farm  finance.  Other 
questions  might,  for  the  time  being,  have  the  right  of  way, 
but  he  always  came  back  to  this  fundamental  problem. 

In  1911  the  publications  issued  by  the  cooperative  bureau 
of  the  Institute,  then  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Loren- 
zoni,  once  more  ri vetted  his  attention  on  this  phase  of  eco- 
nomic development.  In  the  spring  of  that  year  he  had  taken 
up  the  question  in  Washington  with  the  State  Department 
and  on  his  return  to  Rome  he  issued  a  leaflet:  "The  Raif- 
feisen  System,  what  does  it  mean  ?  The  Peasant  Farmers  of 
Germany  are  sufficiently  intelligent  and  capable  to  do  a 
cooperative  banking  business  of  over  One  Billion  Six  Hun- 
dred Million  Dollars  a  year.  How  about  the  American 
Farmer?"  which  brought  him  letters  of  inquiry  from  every 
section  of  the  United  States. 

Most  people,  when  they  wish  to  spread  an  idea,  use  the 
medium  of  the  press.  They  write  a  book  or  publish  articles 
in  the  reviews,  or  get  space  in  the  columns  of  the  daily 
papers.      Such  modes  never  seemed  to  suggest  themselves 


272  DAVID   LUBIN 

to  Lubin's  mind.  True,  he  was  anxious  to  interest  the  press 
in  the  causes  he  advocated.  As  we  have  seen,  he  wanted  the 
London  Times  to  take  up  the  advocacy  of  the  International 
Institute  of  Agriculture.  But  the  delays  incident  on  writing 
up  a  subject  in  essay  form,  sending  it  for  acceptance  to  an 
editor,  running  the  chance  of  refusal,  and  at  best  waiting 
your  turn  for  publication  in  the  crowded  pages  of  an  in- 
fluential monthly,  did  not  fit  in  with  his  love  of  rapid  action. 
Lubin  came  from  a  business  house  and  not  from  a  University, 
and  his  experience  had  been  with  the  preparation  and  dis- 
tribution of  catalogues  rather  than  with  the  publication  of 
books;  even  in  the  case  of  his  one  book,  "Let  There  Be 
Light",  he  had  brought  it  out  at  his  own  expense,  and  himself 
attended  to  its  distribution.  So  it  was  along  the  lines  of  the 
business  catalogue  that  he  carried  on  the  advocacy  of  his 
ideas  during  the  next  few  years. 

He  equipped  himself  with  the  rosters  of  State  and  Sub- 
ordinate Granges,  Farmers'  associations,  business  organiza- 
tions, with  press  and  congressional  directories,  and  compiled 
a  regular  mailing  list  of  some  fifty  thousand  addresses.  He 
employed  a  boy  by  the  year  copying  these  addresses  on  to 
envelopes.  Then  he  would  prepare  a  short  but  striking 
statement,  frequently  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  some  corre- 
spondent whom  he  used  as  a  peg  on  which  to  hang  the  "case", 
or  else  in  dialogue  form  which  lent  itself  to  his  love  of  con- 
crete colloquial  expression.  With  laborious  effort  he  would 
get  his  matter  into  shape  and  send  it  to  the  printer,  himself 
paying  minute  attention  to  such  details  as  headlines,  sub- 
titles, display  type,  etc.,  just  as  he  would  have  done  in  the 
case  of  an  advertisement  for  his  business  house.  Then,  when 
all  was  ready,  the  "American  Room"  would  become  a  regular 
work  shop,  with  some  ten  or  twelve  boys  working  at  long  tables, 
filling  envelopes,  pasting  on  stamps,  tying  up  parcels,  and 
Lubin  sitting  in  the  midst  like  a  foreman,  keeping  an  eye 
on  every  detail,  reading  back  addresses,  counting  out  leaf- 
lets, and  every  now  and  again  thrusting  his  hand  into  his 
pocket  for  two  or  three  hundred  lire  notes  to  be  expended  on 


TEN  YEARS  OF  WORK  FOR  AMERICA    273 

stamps.  In  a  few  hours*  time  his  fifty  thousand  edition  would 
be  out  in  the  mails,  and  he  would  count  the  days  which  would 
elapse  before  the  pamphlets  would  be  in  the  hands  of  Worthy 
Master  Jones,  or  Farmer  Brown,  who  would  wonder  how 
their  names  and  addresses  came  to  be  known  in  Rome,  and 
would  read  over  with  interest  the  brief  statement  expressed 
in  language  which  they  could  understand.  The  leaflet 
would  be  accompanied  by  a  note  suggesting  that  they  take 
it  down  to  the  next  meeting  of  their  Subordinate  Grange 
and  read  it  over  with  the  brothers,  agree  on  a  line  of  action, 
and  write  back  comments  and  criticism  to  the  Rome  oflSce. 
In  this  effort  Lubin  took  the  farmer  into  his  confidence,  as 
partner  in  the  enterprise ;  the  farmer  was  to  take  hold  and 
become  part  and  parcel  of  the  work. 

He  persisted  in  this  line  of  action  for  some  eight  years, 
during  which  time  he  repeatedly  addressed  this  large  circle 
of  readers  on  rural  credits,  a  national  organization  for  the 
marketing  of  farm  products,  on  ocean  freight  rates,  on  a 
system  for  direct  dealing  between  producer  and  con- 
sumer through  the  parcel  post,  on  a  National  Chamber  of 
Agriculture,  and  as  the  war  went  its  destructive  way,  on  the 
need  for  a  Confederation  of  Democracies  under  a  Constitu- 
tion as  a  basis  for  permanent  Peace.  Gathered  together, 
these  leaflets  form  a  thick  volume  of  closely  printed  pages, 
each  representing  days  and  weeks  of  anxious  thought.  Add 
to  these  the  volumes  of  correspondence  on  these  subjects, 
mostly  letters  of  which  he  took  a  dozen  or  more  carbon  copies 
to  circulate  among  a  group  interested  in  the  particular  sub- 
ject dealt  with,  and  we  get  a  truly  formidable  body  of  work. 
One  begins  then  to  realize  how  it  is  that  so  many  of  the  ideas 
which  Lubin  originated  or  elaborated  have  come  to  be,  so 
to  speak  "  in  the  air  ",  have  taken  root  and  sprung  up  in 
many  quarters,  giving  rise  to  movements  of  truly  national 
importance  in  connection  with  which  his  name,  however,  is 
mentioned  only  by  a  small  inner  circle  who  know  the  power- 
ful part  he  played  as  agitator,  educator,  organizer.  He 
sowed  ideas  broadcast  in  thousands  of  directions,  addressing 


274  DAVID  LUBIN 

himself  to  the  farmer  "with  mud  on  his  boots"  in  the  little 
townships  and  rural  free  delivery  districts  all  over  the 
United  States. 

He  had  already  aroused  in  Grange  and  Farmer  circles  a 
very  widespread  interest  in  the  rural  credit  problem  when, 
in  the  autumn  of  1911,  a  letter  reached  him  from  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Southern  Commercial  Congress,  inviting  him  to 
take  part  in  the  Convention  to  be  held  that  May  in  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee. 

Lubin  was  a  past  master  in  the  art  of  seizing  a  straw  and 
converting  it  into  a  solid  prop.  He  was  at  that  time  search- 
ing for  a  means  of  focussing  the  interest  aroused  in  co- 
operative credit  and  directing  it  into  channels  of  achieve- 
ment, and  he  saw  in  this  letter  Providence  supplying  the 
means.  He  at  once  replied,  suggesting  that  the  Southern 
Commercial  Congress  should  take  the  lead  in  this  work. 
A  correspondence  ensued  which  resulted  in  his  attending 
in  May,  1912,  the  Nashville  Convention  where  a  special  con- 
ference discussed  under  his  leadership  the  question  of  farm 
finance.  After  a  week's  debate  a  resolution  was  adopted 
instructing  the  Southern  Commercial  Congress  to  assemble 
a  Commission  to  inquire  in  Europe  into  the  systems  there 
in  force. 

A  year  of  intense  labor  followed.  Cooperating  with 
Senator  Duncan  U.  Fletcher,  then  president  of  the  South- 
em  Commercial  Congress,  and  with  its  Managing  Director, 
Doctor  Clarence  J.  Owens,  in  their  task  of  assembling  dele- 
gates from  as  many  States  as  possible,  Lubin  from  the  In- 
stitute sent  out  at  his  own  expense  edition  after  edition  of 
leaflets,  written  by  himseK  or  prepared  under  his  super- 
vision by  the  Institute,  to  every  nook  and  comer  of  the 
United  States.  On  the  other  hand  he  took  up  the  work  of 
preparing  the  ground  for  the  inquiry  with  the  governments 
of  Italy,  Austria-Hungary,  Germany,  France  and  England. 
Sub-committees  were  to  visit  Denmark,  Holland,  Belgium, 
Spain  and  Russia.  Through  his  colleagues  on  the  Permanent 
Committee  he  got  into  touch  with  all  these  governments. 


TEN  YEARS  OF  WORK  FOR  AMERICA    275 

and  worked  to  such  good  effect  that  when  the  Commission 
reached  these  several  comitries  it  was  overwhelmed  with 
honors  and  placed  in  the  way  of  getting  at  the  required  in- 
formation with  the  least  possible  loss  of  time. 

Meantime,  the  American  bankers,  imder  the  leadership 
of  Myron  C.  Herrick,  whom  President  Taft  had  just  ap- 
pointed Ambassador  to  France,  were  taking  up  the  inquiry 
from  their  end,  and  much  correspondence  took  place  be- 
tween them  and  David  Lubin. 

In  all  this  what  distinguished  David  Lubin's  effort  from 
that  of  others  was  the  steadiness  with  which  he  kept  the 
ultimate  purpose  in  view.  It  was  no  class  interest  of  farm- 
ers as  farmers  for  which  he  strove;  he  strove  to  place 
Democracy  on  a  firm  and  permanent  foundation.  Writing 
in  December,  1912,  to  his  son,  Sie,  he  says : 

As  you  will  no  doubt  understand,  this  is  not  merely  a 
question  of  cheapening  the  rate  of  interest,  for  many  farmers 
would  remain  uninterested  even  if  the  interest  were  a  quarter 
of  the  rate  it  now  is.  They  have  what  they  call  a  principle 
of  "keeping  out  of  debt",  for  they  fear  that  debt,  especially 
a  mortgage,  must  ultimately  lead  to  foreclosure.  Hence 
they  are  satisfied  to  go  along  and  do  their  banking  with  the 
storekeeper,  let  the  storekeeper  be  their  banker,  and  let  it 
go  at  that ;  which  is  just  the  same  as  if  a  department  store 
man  rejected  cheap  money  from  a  bank  and  bought  on  a 
year's  credit  from  the  jobber.  The  purpose  of  the  rural 
credit  system,  when  understood,  is  to  place  a  farmer  in  a 
position  to  avail  himself  of  "dynamic"  dollars;  but  this  is 
the  least  of  its  benefits,  for  under  the  cooperative  method 
these  "dynamic"  dollars  will  free  him  from  the  "Trust." 
The  farmer  himself  becomes  the  Trust ;  and  this  is  the  long- 
range  benefit,  for  it  is  not  merely  an  economic  benefit  con- 
ferred upon  the  farmer,  but  this  system,  in  its  general  adop- 
tion, will  mean  much  for  the  United  States  and  very  much 
for  the  world,  for  its  chief  significance  consists  in  its  political 
benefit.  We  are  apt  to  think  that  liberal  Government  is 
established  throughout  the  world  because  it  has  such  firm 
roots  in  the  United  States.     Stop  and  think  for  a  moment. 


276  DAVID  LUBIN 

and  you  will  see  that  this  is  by  no  means  the  case.  It  is 
still  an  experiment,  and  the  bubbling  over  of  liberalism  in 
the  United  States  is  largely  due  to  economic  opportunity 
of  initiative,  so  rigorously  limited  in  the  Old  World.  It  is 
this  which  has  brought  liberal  tendencies  to  the  surface. 
Nor  is  this  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  for  such 
a  state  of  affairs.  And  everywhere  and  at  all  times  a  de- 
teriorating force  has  been  at  work,  slowly  undermining  the 
structure  of  liberalism,  and  this  force  gradually  absorbed 
and  eliminated  the  independent,  landowning  farmer,  brushed 
aside  by  lords  of  great  estates.  Thus  the  conservative  of 
the  land  was  converted  into  a  renter  and  into  a  radical.  And 
then  the  whole  State  toppled  over.  Remove  this  cause  in 
the  United  States  and  you  have  removed  the  cause  of  the 
failure  of  former  democracies.  As  liberal  governments  of 
the  world  at  the  present  time  take  their  cue  from  the  United 
States,  it  must  follow  that  the  decline  of  the  American  con- 
servative, the  American  farmer,  the  independent,  landowning 
farmer,  means  the  decline  of  the  American  Republic;  and 
conversely  the  conservation  of  the  American  conservative, 
the  American  landowning  farmer,  must  mean  the  conserva- 
tion of  the  American  Republic  and  of  liberal  government 
throughout  the  world. 

I  have  not  the  figures  before  me  as  to  the  number  of  farm 
renters  in  the  United  States  at  the  present  time.  I  am  told 
from  various  publications  that  they  are  increasing  slowly  but 
surely.  From  some  loose  proof  sheets  sent  me  by  the  Direc- 
tor of  the  Census  Bureau  from  the  coming  census  report,  it 
would  seem  that  about  one  third  of  the  farmers  are  already 
renters,  and  this  in  face  of  the  fact  that  in  the  older  European 
countries  every  endeavor  is  now  being  made  by  the  govern- 
ments to  break  up  the  great  estates  and  to  convert  the  renter 
into  a  freehold  farmer.  In  these  older  European  countries 
every  government  is  striving  its  utmost  to  conserve  the 
landowning  farmer,  to  conserve  the  conservative.  Hence 
they  give  him  a  protective  system  which  protects,  and  a  co- 
operative credit  system  which  gives  him  dynamic  dollars, 
and  this  makes  the  European  farmers  the  Trusts  of  Europe. 
Remove  these  advantages  from  the  farmers  of  Germany  and 
you  render  these  present  conservatives  of  the  German  sys- 


TEN  YEARS  OF  WORK  FOR  AMERICA    277 

tern  German  radicals  who,  joined  with  the  urban  socialists, 
would  overturn  the  government  at  one  fell  sweep. 

And  now  you  have  my  reason  for  giving  up  days,  weeks, 
months  and  years  of  my  life  and  my  energy  and  my  means 
in  this  work.  It  is  not  because  I  want  to  be  a  Count  or  a 
Duke,  or  to  receive  a  medal,  or  to  receive  applause,  or  to 
receive  thanks ;  these  are  of  no  value,  not  at  least  to  me.  It 
is  because  your  great-great-grandfathers  and  mine  started 
out  on  this  work  centuries  ago.  It  is  the  heredity  of  these 
ideals  and  ideas  which  urges  me  on  in  the  work,  in  spite  of 
the  many  efforts  I  have  made  to  escape  it.  I  wish  to  go  to 
Tarshish ;  but  there  is  an  overwhelming  spirit  which  says  : 
"Go  to  Nineveh." 

Lubin  knew  the  value  of  a  "cry",  and  he  always  liked 
"authority"  and  "precedent"  for  his  work.  He  saw  all 
this  ready  to  hand  in  the  German  system  of  cooperative 
rural  credits  known  by  the  name  of  its  founder,  Raiffeisen. 
So  he  talked  in  a  general  way  of  the  Raiffeisen  system,  but 
the  American  adaptation  from  European  systems  which  he 
was  working  for  was  really  something  very  different  from  the 
small  cooperative  loan  societies  devised  to  meet  the  needs 
of  peasant  farmers.  He  wished  to  make  liquid  the  vast 
volume  of  wealth  represented  by  the  land  assets  of  the  Amer- 
ican farmer,  and  to  set  every  dollar  of  this  potential  wealth 
at  work  creating  actual  wealth.     To  use  his  own  words  : 

The  question  before  us  is  not  merely  one  of  cheap  money ; 
it  is  a  question  of  money  in  a  dynamic  form  in  the  place  of 
money  in  a  static  form.  Let  me  make  clear  what  I  mean. 
Money  in  a  dynamic  form  is  in  a  position  to  multiply  itself ; 
whereas  money  in  the  static  form  is  immobile,  dead.  .  .  . 
If  money  is  to  be  employed  to  advantage,  every  dollar 
should  find  a  constant  dynamic  use.  If  only  the  minor 
portion  of  these  dollars  is  thus  employed,  while  the  major 
portion  remains  idle,  the  major  portion  will  soon  eat  up  any 
profit  earned  on  the  minor  portion.  With  the  ordinary  com- 
mercial account  every  dollar  may  be  placed  on  the  active 
line  of  engagement,  and  the  dollar  not  so  engaged  may  be 
immediately  returned  to  the  bank  and  ceases  to  pay  interest 


278  DAVID  LUBIN 

for  the  time  it  is  not  wanted.  A  mortgage,  on  the  other 
hand,  gives  a  fixed  amomit  for  a  fixed  period  and  this  is 
contrary  to  the  commercial  usage  which  permits  the  free 
engagement  of  every  dollar  in  current  business.  .  .  .  Dy- 
namic dollars  can  be  compared  to  the  gilded  balls  manip- 
ulated by  a  juggler  who  keeps  each  ball  in  motion  and  as 
many  at  a  time  as  he  desires,  each  ball  moving  according  to 
the  character  of  the  unit  of  impelling  power.  The  static 
use  of  money  may  be  compared  to  the  same  juggler's  balls 
in  the  hands  of  a  novice ;  if  he  attempts  to  throw  them  in 
the  air  he  may  only  engage  one  at  a  time ;  the  others  fall  to 
the  ground. 

The  difficulties  to  be  overcome  in  getting  together  the  pro- 
posed American  Commission  were  formidable,  first  and 
foremost  the  difficulty  of  getting  the  requisite  funds  to 
enable  two  farmers  from  each  State  to  travel  for  three  months 
in  Europe.  Lubin  wrote  endless  letters  suggesting  ways  and 
means,  urging  the  farmers  not  to  have  the  work  done  for 
them  vicariously  but  to  do  it  themselves.  Writing  to 
Mr.  L.  S.  Herron,  Editor  of  the  Nebraska  Farmer  (September 
26,  1912),  he  says : 

It  takes  no  prophet  to  foretell  that  if  the  farmers  remain 
home,  singing  pessimistic  songs  and  doing  nothing  else, 
they  will  presently  have  cause  to  accentuate  their  minor 
key,  to  exchange  their  singing  for  howling.  If  the  farmer 
is  a  man,  if  he  is  a  fighter,  let  him  show  it.  Here  the  fight 
has  scarcely  begun  when  the  sensitive  ear  of  the  banker  has 
caught  the  drift,  and  sent  advance  committees  abroad  in 
order  to  get  hold  of  the  lines.  Where  has  the  farmer  been 
all  this  time  ?  At  home,  droning  that  he  does  n't  know  where 
to  get  the  twelve  hundred  dollars  for  a  delegate  on  the  Com- 
mission, and  he  wants  Congress  to  give  it  to  him,  and  he 
wants  some  one  else  to  give  it  to  him,  and  then  he  grumbles 
that  he  may  not  be  put  on  the  Commission,  that  he  will  be 
left  unrepresented.  All  this  while  he  takes  another  chew  of 
tobacco,  and  gives  another  skilful  big  spit,  and  drones  and 
groans  at  the  "exploiting  financier"  and  the  "exploiting 
trust  man." 


TEN  YEARS  OF  WORK  FOR  AMERICA    279 

But  his  efforts,  seconding  those  of  Senator  Fletcher  and 
Doctor  Owens,  had  their  effect.  Lubin  reached  every 
section  of  the  United  States,  and  soon  the  press  began  fairly 
to  bristle  with  articles  on  rural  credits  and  farm  finance.  It 
was  the  presidential  campaign  year,  and  Lubin  realized  his 
ambition  of  seeing  the  question  made  a  plank  in  the  plat- 
forms of  the  Republican,  Democratic  and  Progressive  parties. 
The  Wilson  Administration  took  the  question  up  and  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  of  seven  United  States  delegates  to 
join  the  American  Commission  in  its  European  inquiry. 

In  May,  1913,  Lubin  welcomed  in  Rome  some  one  hundred 
and  twenty  Americans  who,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Southern  Commercial  Congress,  and  with  the  cooperation 
of  the  Institute,  came  to  hold  juries  of  inquiry  in  half  a 
dozen  European  countries  on  the  subject  at  issue. 

The  almost  triumphal  progress  of  this  Commission  through 
the  European  capitals  bore  eloquent  evidence  to  the  re- 
markable work  Lubin  had  done  and  to  the  unique  position 
which  he  had  won  for  himself  in  the  estimation  of  foreign 
governments. 

Little  did  the  company  then  realize,  as  it  traveled  from 
country  to  country  with  the  ease,  rapidity,  and  economy  of 
pre-war  days,  that  the  prosperous  lands  whose  agriculture 
could  then  make  such  a  splendid  showing  would,  within 
a  year,  be  devastated  by  war  and  many  of  them  be  on  the 
highway  to  permanent  ruin  and  bankruptcy.  But  thus  it 
was,  and  the  American  farmer  has  to  thank  David  Lubin  if 
he  secured  a  picture  of  the  European  credit  and  cooperative 
systems  before  the  curtain  fell  on  a  phase  in  the  world's 
history.  The  special  piece  of  work  then  accomplished  could 
never  be  performed  again. 

A  book  could  be  written  on  Lubin's  views  on  this  whole 
subject  of  farm  finance ;  but  in  this  biography  the  question 
can  only  be  dealt  with  briefly  in  its  relation  to  the  man. 
As  with  so  much  else  of  his  work,  his  efforts  fructified  in 
action  which  only  partially  realized  the  purposes  he  had  in 
view.     True,  the  Federal  Farm  Loan  Act,  which  became  law 


280  DAVID  LXJBIN 

in  1916,  makes  liquid  for  purposes  of  land  purchase  and  im- 
provements some  forty  billion  dollars'  worth  of  wealth  rep- 
resented by  agricultural  lands  in  the  United  States;  but 
the  farmer  has  not  yet  got  the  "commercial  rating"  or  the 
current  accounts  at  business  rates  of  interest  which  Lubin 
claimed  were  needed  to  place  the  farm  on  a  sound  com- 
mercial basis. 

Side  by  side  with  his  campaign  for  rural  credits,  and 
supplementary  to  it,  Lubin  urged  the  need  for  nation-wide 
organization  of  the  farmers,  through  a  system  of  chambers 
of  agriculture  beginning  with  the  irnit,  the  township,  and 
ending  with  the  nation. 

Let  the  townships  elect  this  local  chamber,  the  local 
chambers  the  county,  the  counties  the  State,  the  States  the 
National  Chamber  of  Agriculture,  all  equipped  with  card 
index,  long-distance  telephone,  night-letter  telegrams;  all 
in  touch,  from  the  base  to  the  apex  and  from  the  apex  to  the 
base ;  let  the  main  purpose  of  the  organization  be  to  direct 
the  produce  of  the  farm  to  the  markets  where  it  is  in  de- 
mand, avoiding  gluts  and  scarcity,  detecting  right  away 
obstacles  due  to  defective  transport  facilities,  defective 
credit  facilities ;  let  it  have  power  through  the  National 
Chamber  to  call  attention  to  such  defects  and  secure  their 
removal,  and  soon  not  a  single  product  would  be  grown  for 
which  there  would  not  be  an  eager  purchaser  at  a  fair  price. 
The  paths  of  exchange  would  be  smoothed,  the  machinery 
oiled,  and  Democracy,  through  wise  economic  organization 
would  become  a  fact,  —  a  real  government  of  the  people,  by 
the  people,  for  the  people  and  not  a  government  of  special 
interests,  by  special  interests,  for  special  interests. 

Li  the  last  years  of  his  life,  Lubin  spent  time,  energy  and 
means  on  the  advocacy  of  these  chambers  of  agriculture 
sending  out  literature,  traveling  from  place  to  place  in  the 
United  States,  urging  and  explaining  the  idea.  He  had  it 
up  in  hearings  before  congressional  committees,  in  con- 
ferences with  officials  of  the  State  Department  and  the 
departments  of  Commerce  and  of  Agriculture.     He  agitated 


TEN  YEARS  OF  WORK  FOR  AMERICA    281 

it  with  Congressmen  and  Senators,  in  the  Grange,  in  the 
Farmers'  Educational  and  Cooperative  Association,  with 
the  agricultural  colleges,  through  the  Southern  Commercial 
Congress.  He  succeeded  in  having  bills  drafted  and  in- 
troduced into  the  House  and  Senate  for  the  creation  of  such 
a  system. 

The  European  war  came  and  the  overwhelming  events 
diverted  people's  minds  from  such  problems,  but  months 
before  impending  famine  made  food  supply  and  food  con- 
trol second  in  importance  only  to  armaments,  not  only  for 
belligerents  but  for  neutrals,  Lubin  had  sensed  the  situation. 

He  realized  to  the  full  the  importance  of  the  American 
farmer  as  a  factor  in  winning  the  war.  Food  was  a  basic 
need,  almost  taking  precedence  of  munitions  even  during 
the  conflict,  and  would  be  the  one  main  essential  during  the 
period  of  reconstruction.  With  the  granaries  of  Europe, 
Russia,  Hungary,  Rumania  devastated,  the  world  would  have 
to  rely  first  and  foremost  for  its  food  supplies  on  the  Amer- 
ican farmer.  But  if  that  farmer  were  to  do  his  best  he  must 
have  his  task  facilitated  by  easy  credit ;  not  only  long-time 
land  credit  but  commercial  credit  in  the  form  of  open  ac- 
counts with  commercial  banks  wherewith  to  finance  his  cur- 
rent business  expenditure. 

And  again,  organization  must  obviate  the  destructive  waste 
which  allows  food  to  rot  on  the  farms  for  lack  of  a  market, 
while  city  workers  are  driven  to  revolutionary  councils  by 
the  high  cost  of  living,  and  whole  countries  starve  for  lack 
of  that  of  which  there  is  a  glut  elsewhere.  He  could  see 
that  the  importance  of  measures  which  would  allow  of  mobi- 
lizing the  agricultural  resources  of  the  country  was  only 
enhanced  by  the  war,  and  he  urged  their  passage  as  war 
measures. 

Though  he  did  not  succeed  in  this  effort  his  work  was  not 
in  vain.  Action  has  been  taken  on  lines  somewhat  different 
from  those  he  then  laid  down,  and  has  come  about  as  the 
product  of  such  widespread  agitation  that  it  appears  the 
natural  outcome  of  a  condition  rather  than  of  any  one  man's 


282  DAVID  LUBIN 

work.  Lubin  did  not  live  to  see  the  almost  miraculous 
growth  of  the  Farm  Bureau  movement,  yet  from  letters  he 
received  in  the  autumn  of  1918  he  concluded  that  the  move- 
ment he  had  so  insistently  urged  was  taking  root  and 
developing  under  another  name,  and  that  a  force  was  at 
last  at  work  which  would  soon  make  the  American  farmers 
an  organized  power  to  be  counted  with  politically  no  less 
than  economically. 

In  the  summer  of  1915  Lubin  returned  with  his  family  to 
the  United  States  to  work  in  connection  with  these  various 
movements.  He  remained  on,  at  the  request  of  the  State 
Department,  until  the  autumn  of  1916,  when  he  returned 
to  Rome.  One  of  the  matters  which  claimed  his  attention 
during  these  months  was  an  effort  along  the  lines  to  which 
he  had  devoted  so  much  time  nearly  thirty  years  before. 
The  parcel  post  had  been  working  for  some  ten  years,  but 
the  laborious  process  of  getting  into  touch  through  letters, 
money  orders,  and  so  forth  had  prevented  it  from  becoming 
a  real  factor  in  promoting  direct  dealing  between  the  farmer 
and  the  housewife.  Now,  Lubin's  long  training  and  ex- 
perience in  building  up  a  mail-order  business  had  given  him 
an  insight  into  all  these  difficulties,  and  he  devised  a  plan  for 
reducing  the  routine  involved  to  its  simplest  expression. 
The  briefest  way  of  describing  it  is  by  quoting  the  statement 
he  made  (December,  1915)  to  a  little  committee  of  members 
of  Sears,  Roebuck  and  Company  of  Chicago,  representatives 
of  the  American  Express  and  the  Wells-Fargo  Express  Com- 
panies, Mr.  Gifford  Pinchot,  and  others  whom  he  invited  to 
look  into  the  practicability  of  his  proposal : 

Briefly,  the  postmasters  in  the  larger  cities  are  to  pro- 
vide a  separate  room,  a  sub-post  office  for  the  transaction 
of  this  particular  business.  The  post-office  clerk  in  that 
room  is  to  be  provided  with  racks  of  different  colors,  each 
color  representing  a  certain  kind  of  farm  product :  white, 
for  instance,  to  represent  eggs ;  pink,  chickens ;  yellow, 
butter ;  etc.  In  beginning  this  system  the  farmer  registers 
his  name  and  address  at  the  post  office  and  is  given  a  number. 


TEN  YEARS  OF  WORK  FOR  AMERICA    283 

This  farmer  is,  say,  "No.  40."  "No.  40"  buys  a  quantity 
of  cards  or  tags,  each  representing  a  certain  quantity  of  a 
given  product ;  each  egg  card  would  stand,  say,  for  a  dozen 
eggs ;  each  butter  card  for  a  pound  of  butter ;  each  chicken 
card  for  one  chicken.  He  also  provides  himself  with  con- 
tainers or  carriers,  some  of  which  would  be  collapsible  or 
"knocked  down."  Now,  farmer  "No.  40"  has  for  sale,  say, 
ten  dozen  eggs,  five  chickens  and  sixteen  pounds  of  butter. 
He  writes  the  price  of  each  dozen  eggs  on  ten  cards,  one 
dozen  for  each  card,  and  inserts  the  cards  in  a  printed  en- 
velope to  be  mailed  to  the  sub-post  oflSce.  He  writes  the 
price  of  each  chicken  on  five  cards  for  the  five  chickens,  and 
inserts  the  cards  in  the  same  envelope.  He  writes  the  price 
of  a  pound  of  butter  on  the  fifteen  cards  for  the  fifteen  pounds 
of  butter,  putting  them  in  the  same  envelope,  which  he  seals 
and  delivers  to  the  rural  mail  carrier. 

The  envelope  containing  the  cards  from  "No.  40"  arrives 
at  the  sub-post  oflSce.  The  clerk  slips  them  alongside  their 
corresponding  numbers  on  the  space  in  the  rack,  the  white 
cards  in  the  egg  rack,  pink  in  the  chicken  rack,  yellow  in 
the  butter  rack. 

In  the  meantime  the  housewife  has  provided  herself  with  a 
post-oflBce  "purchasing  book",  similar  in  form  to  the  mileage 
books  used  by  the  Pennsylvania  Railway  Company,  con- 
sisting of  perforated  coupons  for  stated  amounts.  And  now 
we  are  ready  to  proceed  with  the  transaction. 

The  housewife,  taking  her  purchasing  book  with  her,  pro- 
ceeds to  the  sub-post  office.  Having  heard  favorable  re- 
ports of  farmer  "No.  40",  she  asks  the  clerk  whether  this 
farmer  has  any  butter,  eggs  or  chickens  for  sale  that  day, 
and  what  the  prices  are.  The  clerk,  pointing  to  the  racks 
says:  "There  are  the  racks;  you  may  see  for  yourself. 
Select  what  you  wish  and  hand  me  your  purchasing  book." 
The  housewife  selects  a  dozen  eggs,  a  chicken,  and  a  pound 
of  butter,  and  writes  her  address  on  the  back  of  the  cards 
or  tags,  handing  them  to  the  clerk,  who  tears  out  from  the 
purchasing  book  the  coupons  corresponding  to  the  amount 
of  the  purchase  and  hands  the  book  back  to  the  housekeeper. 

The  clerk  now  proceeds  a  step  further ;  he  incloses  in  an 
envelope  printed  with  the  name  and  address  of  "No.  40" 


284  DAVID   LUBIN 

the  cards  taken  from  the  racks,  together  with  the  coupons 
torn  out  of  the  purchasing  book.  He  will  insert  in  the  same 
envelope  the  cards  and  coupons  for  any  additional  sale  from 
the  same  farmer,  and  at  the  time  of  closing  he  seals  the  en- 
velope and  mails  it. 

During  this  interval  farmer  "No.  40"  has  placed  his 
products  in  the  containers.  On  receipt  of  the  envelope 
from  the  post  oflSce  he  will  deposit  the  coupon  slips,  which  are 
his  money  orders  on  the  post  office,  in  a  box  or  in  his  bureau, 
and  proceed  to  fasten  the  returned  cards  to  the  several  con- 
tainers, when  they  are  ready  for  the  rural  mail  carrier.  The 
next  step  delivers  the  package  in  the  home  of  the  housewife. 

The  final  step  is  the  farmer's  listing  of  the  week's  coupons 
by  number  and  amount  of  purchase  on  a  listing  slip  in 
original  and  duplicate  which  he  hands  with  the  coupons  to 
the  rural  mail  carrier  who  will  sign  and  detach  the  duplicate, 
handing  it  to  the  farmer.  He  will  then  send  the  original 
together  with  the  coupons  to  the  postmaster,  who  will  send 
the  money  for  the  week's  transactions  to  the  farmer  through 
the  rural  mail  carrier,  who,  in  handing  it  to  the  farmer,  will  re- 
ceive the  duplicate  just  spoken  of.  On  receipt  of  this  dupli- 
cate, the  auditing  clerk  at  the  post  office  cancels  the  trans- 
actions for  the  week. 

This  plan  was  tried  out  experimentally  in  the  spring  of 
1916  in  California  with  great  success,  and,  through  the  ef- 
forts of  Senator  Fletcher,  Congress  was  induced  to  make  a 
small  appropriation  for  the  purpose  of  an  official  trial  through 
the  mails.  But  this  was  a  case  of  "Congress  proposes  and 
the  profiteer  disposes."  So  great  was  the  outcry  raised  by 
the  latter,  so  assiduous  the  propagation  of  totally  inaccurate 
statements  and  gross  misrepresentations  and  even  of  per- 
sonal attacks  on  Mr.  Lubin  and  the  leading  supporters 
of  the  plan,  that  the  proposed  experiment  was  silently 
dropped  and  the  appropriation  allowed  to  revert  to  the 
Treasury.  And  here  again  it  behooves  the  American  farmer 
not  to  allow  himself  to  be  deprived  of  the  advantages  he 
could  derive  from  the  general  adoption  of  this  plan.  As 
Lubin  used  to  say,  the  parcel-post  service  is  now  almost 


TEN  YEARS  OF  WORK  FOR  AMERICA    285 

exclusively  of  advantage  to  the  city  merchant ;   this  adapta- 
tion would  make  it  of  equal  value  to  the  farmer. 

As  the  devastation  of  war  proceeded,  Mr.  Lubin  clearly 
saw  that  alone  of  the  belligerent  nations  America  would 
issue  from  the  struggle  stronger  than  ever,  a  world-power 
in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word.  It  was  his  hope  and  belief 
that  she  would  avail  herself  of  this  great  opportunity  to 
play  her  part  in  the  work  of  reconstruction  in  no  mean  spirit 
of  narrow  nationalism;  that  first  among  the  nations  she 
would  realize  that  she  could  best  serve  her  own  interests  by 
serving  those  of  others.  He  foresaw  a  break-down  in  the 
credit  and  currency  systems  of  the  world,  and  he  knew  that 
such  a  break-down  would  weigh  heaviest  of  all  on  the  growers 
of  staple  crops,  the  American  farmers,  who  produce  for  an 
international  market.  In  June,  1918,  he  sent  out  from  the 
Institute  a  little  leaflet  calling  attention  to  this  matter : 

At  the  cl^se  of  the  war  international  commerce,  freed  from 
artificial  barriers,  will  begin  once  more  to  flow  in  its  usual 
channels;  there  will  be  a  resumption  of  the  ordinary  im- 
port trade.  These  imports  and  the  duty  on  them  will  have 
to  be  paid  for  in  gold,  perhaps  at  a  high  premium,  hence 
a  corresponding  depreciation  of  paper  money.  Such  a  state 
of  affairs,  unless  efficiently  controlled,  will  be  sure  to  perturb 
the  stability  of  the  financial  and  commercial  world,  for  not 
only  will  the  paper  money  be  depreciated  but  it  will  be  sub- 
ject to  constant  fluctuations,  hence  it  will  be  sure  to  bring 
on  widespread*  panics  and  crises. 

.  .  .  The  modern  international  sweep  of  the  dollar,  its 
interlocked  status,  and  the  magnitude  of  the  interests  in- 
volved would  render  the  Federal  Reserve  Board  inadequate 
to  cope  with  the  new  conditions ;  these  new  conditions  de- 
mand an  institution  on  wider  and  broader  lines;  they  de- 
mand an  international  Reserve  Board. 

And  here  again  is  an  idea  which  conditions  have  more 
than  justified,  although  the  world  has  not  yet  attained  the 
pioneer's  clear  vision  of  its  true  interests. 

"A  'Sally  in  her  Alley'  outlook  on  things,  surviving  in  a 


286  DAVID  LUBIN 

world  which  has  grown  into  the  international  stage  of  de- 
velopment, is  responsible  for  most  of  the  evils  of  our  day," 
Lubin  used  to  say.  The  several  interests,  thinking  them- 
selves so  smart  in  gaining  advantage,  fail  to  see  that  in  a 
very  real  sense  all  are  "members  of  one  body",  that  for  good 
or  for  evil  solidarity  is  a  fact  which  we  can  no  more  afford  to 
disregard  than  we  can  afford  to  disregard  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion. This  was  the  truth  which  Lubin  deduced  from  the 
high  generalizations  of  the  Prophets,  the  truth  involved  in 
the  fundamental  doctrine  of  monotheism,  a  truth  which  had 
so  permeated  his  mind  that  he  had  grown  incapable  of 
thinking  in  terms  of  the  particular.  An  appreciation  of  the 
inter-relation  of  events,  of  the  reaction  of  cause  and  effect, 
had  become  instinctive  with  him  and  enabled  him  to  see  far 
ahead,  divining  situations  and  the  needs  to  which  they 
would  give  rise.  He  could  never  conceive  of  farmers'  in- 
terests as  distinct  from  those  of  labor,  commerce,  indus- 
try; the  prosperity  of  each  was  essential  to  that  of  all. 
Looking  forward  to  America's  role  in  the  economic  era  which 
would  follow  the  war,  he  conceived  that  she  would  best 
serve  her  interests  not  by  engaging  in  a  fierce  competitive 
fight  for  existing  markets,  but  by  pursuing  a  policy  which 
would  indefinitely  enlarge  those  markets. 

America's  part  should  be  to  build  up  industrial  development 
in  the  more  backward  countries.  To  those  who  objected  that 
such  a  policy  would  be  equivalent  to  building  up  competitors, 
he  replied  that  while  it  might  raise  up  competitors  it  would 
also,  and  to  a  much  greater  extent,  raise  up  customers. 

"No  one  in  the  United  States  is  lying  awake  nights  worry- 
ing about  the  competition  of  Morocco,  but  then  Morocco 
is  of  precious  little  good  to  the  United  States,"  he  would  say ; 
and  he  would  point  out  that  if  Great  Britain  were  America's 
most  powerful  competitor,  Great  Britain  was  also  her  best 
customer. 

More  particularly  did  he  advocate  this  policy  in  the  case 
of  trade  relations  with  Italy.  He  could  see  that  with  the 
conclusion  of  the  war  a  new  condition  would  prevail  in  the 


TEN  YEARS  OF  WORK  FOR  AMERICA    287 

Mediterranean  Basin,  the  dead  hand  of  the  Turk  would 
be  removed  from  large  tracts  of  populous  territory  which 
had  for  centuries  been  kept  outside  the  pale  of  modem 
progress ;  and  Italy  with  her  large  population  of  intelligent 
and  industrious  men  and  women  would  be  in  a  most  favored 
geographical  position  for  developing  up  that  trade. 

But  Italy,  in  the  words  of  one  of  her  statesmen  with  whom 
Lubin  consulted,  "is  too  young  a  country  and  too  short  of 
capital  to  exploit  by  herself  all  her  resources  and  to  develop 
industries  and  commerce  along  rational  and  organic  lines." 
She  needs  a  business  partner,  and  David  Lubin  believed 
that  such  partnership  between  the  United  States  and  Italy 
would  be  to  the  very  real  advantage  of  both  countries.  A 
prosperous  Italy  would  be  a  large  consumer  of  American 
staple  products,  machinery,  semi-manufactured  goods; 
Italy  could  be  an  industrial  base  for  American  trade  ex- 
pansion in  the  Mediterranean  Basin.  Nor  would  he  have 
limited  action  along  these  lines  to  Italy.  In  Russia,  in 
Siberia,  in  South  America,  dormant  potential  wealth  could 
be  fertilized  and  stimulated  to  activity  by  American  capital 
and  knowledge;  backward  countries  and  peoples  could  be 
helped  to  development,  and  America,  prospering  with  the 
prosperity  of  others,  would  stand  forth,  the  cornucopia  of 
the  Nations,  blessing  and  blessed. 

Lubin  saw  here  a  whole  field  for  constructive  work  along 
the  line  of  "euconomics",  a  word  coined  at  his  instigation 
by  his  friend  Professor  Giglioli,  to  express  the  union  of  ethics 
with  economics.  It  was  for  this  union  that  he  had  worked 
from  the  days  when  he  had  hung  out  his  sign  in  Sacramento 
"D.  Lubin,  One  Price",  to  the  days  when  as  an  old  man  he 
spent  his  last  summer  in  Sorrento  (July-September,  1918), 
urging  economic  solidarity  among  the  nations  as  the  most 
effective  way  for  repairing  the  devastations  of  the  great 
struggle  then  slowly  drawing  to  an  end. 

"If  the  economists  of  to-day  are  at  all  derelict  in  duty, 
it  is  because  they  fail  to  insist  on  the  need  of  following  out 
economics  on  ethical  lines;"   he  wrote  in  December,  1912, 


288  DAVID  LUBIN 

to  Felix  Adler.  "In  this  department  they  have  permitted 
the  Prophets  of  the  Bible,  those  heroic  pioneers  in  the  propa- 
ganda of  economics  on  ethical  lines,  to  stand  in  isolation  on 
a  plane  high  and  exalted,  the  most  unique,  the  most  worthy 
of  veneration  in  the  social  history  of  man." 

This  was  the  esoteric  doctrine,  if  I  may  so  express  it, 
which  he  would  talk  over  with  those  who  "having  ears 
hear." 

When  in  London  in  July,  1913,  with  the  American  Com- 
mission on  Rural  Credits,  Lubin  had  driven  off  one  morning 
with  me  to  call  on  one  such,  a  man  personally  unknown  to 
him  but  for  whose  works  he  felt  great  admiration,  the  Scotch- 
Canadian  philosopher  Doctor  John  Beatie  Crozier.  Though 
the  visit  was  entirely  unannounced  and  unexpected,  there 
was  no  need  of  introductions  or  preliminaries  between  the 
two  men ;  each  recognized  the  other's  worth.  Crozier  was 
no  "grocery  man",  but  one  who  could  appreciate  the  motive 
and  see  the  vision.  Poor,  old,  and  nearly  blind,  he  sat  for 
some  two  hours  while  this  strange  latter-day  prophet,  with 
worn  face  and  flashing  eye,  preached  the  gospel  of  righteous- 
ness to  be  attained  for  the  everyday  man  in  an  everyday 
world  of  wheat  pits  and  stock  exchanges,  banks  and  farms 
and  labor  unions ;  spoke  of  the  "just  weight"  and  the  "just 
measure"  to  be  secured  by  applying  the  measuring  rod  of 
equity  not  only  to  men  in  their  individual  relations,  which 
Lubin  maintained  was  the  Christian  branch  of  forward  en- 
deavor, but  also  to  the  nations  in  their  collective  relations, 
which  he  believed  to  be  the  Mission  of  Israel.  And  then  he 
spoke  of  Israel,  summer-fallowed  two  thousand  years  that  he 
might  at  last  arise  the  stronger  for  his  final  task,  the  task  of 
bringing  the  nations  collectively  under  the  yoke  of  law  that  the 
foundations  for  the  ultimate  Commonwealth  of  Nations  might 
be  laid.  As  he  spoke,  stopping  every  now  and  then  for  an 
instant  as  a  spasm  of  pain  due  to  his  heart  trouble  gave  him 
pause,  the  shabby  little  room  with  its  ugly  furnishings  and 
all  the  dingy  prose  of  life  became  unreal,  and  the  passion  for 
righteousness,    expressing   itself   through   his   impassioned 


TEN  YEARS  OF  WORK  FOR  AMERICA     289 

eloquence  seemed  the  one  reality.  And  Lubin  spoke  on, 
describing  his  work  toward  this  end  of  economic  equity,  il- 
luminating with  the  flashlight  of  idealism  the  dry  details  of 
crop  statistics,  rural  credits,  marketing  organization  and  so 
forth.  When  he  rose  to  go.  Doctor  Crozier,  visibly  moved, 
accompanied  him  to  the  door.  "Keep  up  the  flag  and  go 
down  with  the  ship,"  were  his  parting  words  to  his  strange 
visitor.     They  never  met  again. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

DAVID   LUBIN   THE  INTERNATIONALIST 

As  we  have  seen,  David  Lubin  did  not  conceive  of  the 
Institute  as  an  ultimate,  but  as  a  link  in  a  chain,  the  first 
International  Department  of  a  World  Administration. 
Economic  activities  have  outgrown  the  national  isolation 
within  which  they  first  developed ;  they  know  nothing  of 
frontiers ;  but  while  private  business  has  adapted  itself 
to  this  new  condition,  the  nations  in  their  public  adminis- 
trations have  failed  to  keep  abreast  of  the  times,  each  still 
behaving  as  though  it  were  a  self-contained  unit.  Now, 
Lubin  was  no  believer  in  an  international  government  at 
the  present  stage  of  human  evolution ;  he  believed  that  the 
nations  are  not  yet  prepared  to  renounce  any  substantial 
portion  of  their  sovereignty  rights ;  but  he  thought  the  age 
was  ripe  for  international  administrative  organization.  In 
fact,  he  believed  it  was  the  most  urgent  need  of  the  day,  if 
collective  interests  were  not  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  predatory 
instincts  of  cosmopolitan  trusts  and  combines. 

A  clear  insight  into  this  need  guided  his  action  in  the 
Institute,  where  he  devoted  his  efforts  to  several  correlated 
lines  of  work,  all  steps  towards  the  ultimate  —  an  organized 
world. 

For  instance,  he  noted  the  new  conditions  which  lead 
large  bodies  of  labor  to  migrate  from  country  to  country, 
not  to  seek  permanent  homes,  as  did  the  early  settlers  of  the 
era  of  national  formation,  but  to  meet  the  economic  needs 
of  the  present  international  phase  of  development ;  and  here 
again  he  saw  waste  and  suffering  caused  by  leaving  the 
movement  to  fortuity  instead  of  bringing  to  its  guidance 
knowledge  and  organization.     Driven  by  conditions,  the 


LUBIN  THE  INTERNATIONALIST  291 

migratory  currents  crossed  the  oceans  in  spite  of  all  artificial 
obstacles  placed  in  their  path,  but  results,  in  themselves 
beneficial,  were  attained  at  the  cost  of  heavy  loss  to  all  con- 
cerned, loss  which  rational  planning  could  greatly  reduce 
if  not  eliminate.  The  Institute,  at  the  dictation  of  the 
Central  Powers,  had  practically  ruled  out  the  question  of 
emigration  from  its  program,  but  Lubin  felt  that  their 
word  could  not  be  final.  Writing  on  this  subject  in  April, 
1909,  to  the  then  delegate  of  Argentina,  Doctor  Roque 
Saenz  Pena,  who  afterwards  became  President  of  that 
Republic,  Lubin  says : 

As  to  your  proposal  for  the  regulation,  by  means  of  in- 
formation published  by  the  International  Institute  of  Agri- 
culture, of  the  migratory  currents  of  labor,  I  wish  to  say 
that  I  am  at  a  loss  to  find  logical  arguments  against  it.  We 
see  here  in  Europe  that  these  migrations  have  taken  place 
during  many  centuries,  and  are  taking  place  now ;  and  that 
within  the  past  thirty  or  forty  years  well-defined  streams  of 
migratory  farm-labor  have  included  within  their  sphere  of 
migration  the  South  American  countries.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  this  migration  will  continue,  and  with  the  development 
of  countries  it  will  increase  in  volume.  The  question  re- 
mains, shall  it  be  permitted  to  continue  fortuitously,  without 
design,  without  direction,  or  shall  it  come  under  the  guidance 
of  that  intelligent  and  authoritative  information  which  it 
would  be  possible  for  the  International  Institute  of  Agri- 
culture to  evolve  and  disseminate  ? 

Clearly  fortuity  in  this  instance  would  be  a  lamentable 
economic  error,  an  error  which  would  make  the  blundering 
of  one  section  the  seed-germ  of  loss  and  suffering  in  many 
sections.  .  .  .  The  intelligent  guidance  and  direction  of 
migratory  field  labor  would  be  to  the  world  in  the  sphere  of 
economics  what  a  "governor"  is  to  a  boiler  and  engine. 

Not  alone  are  the  South  American  Republics  interested 
in  the  question  of  migratory  farm-labor,  but  the  United 
States  is  equally  interested  in  the  question.  At  stated  pe- 
riods the  great  Western  and  Southern  sections  of  the  United 
States  require  large  bodies  of  field  labor ;  these  are  required 


292  DAVID  LUBIN 

at  one  time  to  prepare  the  soil  and  put  in  the  crop,  and  at 
another  to  harvest  the  same.  This  labor  must  be  performed, 
it  must  be  performed  if  the  purchasing  fund  is  to  be  pro- 
vided for  acquiring  the  products  of  the  skilled  labor  of  the 
factories.  The  less  friction  in  the  provision  of  necessary 
farm-labor,  the  more  work  there  will  be  for  the  skilled  labor 
of  the  factories.  And  where  is  this  big  body  of  farm-labor  to 
come  from  for  the  short  periods  when  it  must  perform  its  la- 
bor in  the  fields  ?  Where  should  it  go  after  it  has  performed 
these  several  short  periods  of  labor  ?  Would  it  not  be  of  the 
highest  economic  benefit  to  have  it  come  from  the  surplus 
labor  countries  of  the  world,  perform  its  task,  and  leave, 
rather  than  to  have  it  remain  to  swell  abnormally  the  supply 
of  labor  in  the  factories?  "But,"  say  some,  "would  it  be 
an  economic  advantage  to  have  these  laborers  deplete  the 
wealth  of  a  country  by  taking  away,  in  the  form  of  wages, 
the  great  amount  of  wealth  that  they  do?"  The  answer 
is  that  the  carrying  away  of  their  wages  by  migratory  farm- 
labor  is  not  to  be  considered  an  economic  loss,  not  any  more 
than  the  payments  made  for  the  imports  of  raw  material. 

It  may  be  that  the  United  States  at  this  writing  has  certain 
geographical  disadvantages  which  prevent  the  systematic 
employment  of  migratory  farm-labor ;  but  with  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Panama  Canal  this  disadvantage  will  be  removed. 
It  will  then  be  found  possible  and  advantageous  to  regulate 
by  law  the  incoming  and  outgoing  of  this  migratory  field- 
labor  for  the  uses  of  the  Western  and  Southern  sections  of 
the  United  States. 

And  here  are  his  comments  on  this  subject  to  the  President 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  Samuel  Gompers 
(AprH  27,  1909) : 

At  the  first  glance  the  proposal  may  seem  antagonistic 
to  the  interests  of  organized  labor.  Some  reflection  may 
show  that  it  is,  in  reality,  a  protective  measure  in  the  in- 
terests of  organized  labor,  much  more  eflficacious  than  pro- 
tection by  a  tariff  on  imports.  This  mass  of  labor  comes  and 
then  leaves,  and  the  avenues  perforating  upward  in  the  scale 
towards  skilled  labor  maintain  their  equilibrium.  Omit 
that  labor,  and  the  primary  purchasing  fund  for  the  products 


LUBIN  THE  INTERNATIONALIST  293 

of  skilled  labor  is  diminished.  Admit  it  and  let  it  remain,  and 
it  disturbs  the  equilibrium  of  all  labor.  Therefore,  to  have 
it  come  and  go  meets  the  requirements  and  is  of  economic 
advantage  to  organized  labor.  The  question,  however,  oc- 
curs, will  not  this  labor  once  in  the  country  remain  there  ?  At 
the  present  time  and  in  the  United  States,  it  does ;  but  under 
the  Argentinian  system  it  comes  and  goes  on  a  round-trip 
contract  for  travel,  and  this  takes  it  home  again.  In  course 
of  time  bands  of  these  migratory  laborers  may  start  from 
Southern  Europe,  land  at  the  Atlantic  side  of  South  America, 
and  work  their  way  by  certain  fixed  stations  up  toward  the 
Pacific,  and  then  up  to  the  Pacific  Coast  States,  and  through 
them  into  British  Columbia,  consuming  in  all  half  a  year, 
and  then  return  to  Europe. 

In  the  autumn  of  1909  Mr.  Gompers,  returning  from  the 
International  Trade  Union  Congress,  made  a  stay  in  Rome 
as  Mr.  Lubin's  guest.  As  we  have  had  occasion  to  see, 
Lubin's  attitude  was  always  sympathetic  towards  organized 
labor.  He  was  a  great  believer  in  the  "balance  of  power" 
as  the  most  effective  means  of  fighting  injustice  and  op- 
pression. Labor,  agriculture,  commerce,  finance,  all 
alike  organized  nationally  and  internationally,  would  hold 
each  other  in  check,  securing  equity  in  economic  relations. 
He  never  hesitated  to  appeal  to  labor  for  support  in  his 
efforts  on  behalf  of  agriculture,  as  he  considered  their  in- 
terests complementary  to  each  other,  each  affording  the 
other  its  main  market.  So  now  he  willingly  did  all  in  his 
power  to  make  Mr.  Gompers'  stay  in  Italy  valuable  both  to 
himself  and  to  Italy,  which,  as  a  country  with  a  large  current 
emigration  towards  the  United  States,  was  interested  in  an 
exchange  of  views  with  the  leader  of  the  trade-union  move- 
ment in  America. 

Commenting  on  this  visit  to  Europe,  Lubin  wrote  to  Gom- 
pers (November  22,  1909) : 

You  and  I  are  perhaps  a  little  in  advance  of  the  great 
army  composing  the  human  family.  But  it  is  a  good  thing 
to  be  in  the  van ;  it  gives  a  satisfaction  to  fife,  and  a  more 


294  DAVID  LUBIN 

rational  one,  than  the  many  ciphers,  with  their  significant 
commas,  following  a  unit  designating  dollars.  And  this  is 
the  reason,  my  dear  friend,  that  I  pray  to  the  Almighty  that 
Samuel  Gompers  shall  die  a  poor  man,  for  wealth  and  labor- 
leadership  are  as  far  apart  as  Satan  and  the  Lord ;  and  when 
you  have  ended  your  career  here  on  earth,  that  career  of  the 
poor  man  will  outshine  all  the  Vanderbilts  and  the  Astors 
and  the  Rockefellers  and  the  Stewarts,  all  of  them;  and 
when  their  millions  shall  have  vanished  from  remembrance 
the  work  which  you  have  done,  which  you  are  doing,  shall 
remain,  a  mighty  landmark  for  the  human  family. 

And  again  he  writes  on  December  28,  1909 : 

With  reference  to  the  proposed  publication  of  your  letters 
on  your  European  trip,  I  like  the  idea ;  I  think  the  publica- 
tion of  same  will  be  likely  to  give  life  to  a  dormant  idea; 
to  the  idea  that  the  real  "Labor  Leader"  is  not  merely  a 
grub-worm  for  higher  wages  and  short  hours,  but  that  he 
is,  first  of  all,  a  man  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term  and  not 
merely  a  plug  to  stop  up  a  hole  for  sundry  and  particular 
shoemakers,  tinsmiths,  or  butchers. 

When  the  day  will  be  here  when  the  Labor  Leader  will 
speak  wisely  on  the  relations  of  Labor  as  a  vital  entity  in 
the  body  politic,  it  will  then  begin  to  be  understood  that  the 
struggles  of  Labor  are  as  essential  to  the  welfare  of  Mankind 
as  is  the  struggle  for  the  maintenance  of  Liberty. 

You  and  your  colleagues  owe  it  as  a  duty  to  the  cause  you 
represent  vitally  to  influence  the  mass  of  your  constituency 
to  learn  the  value  of  generalizations  derived  from  wide 
travel.  Will  you  and  your  friends  give  a  monopoly  of  this 
powerful  knowledge  to  the  Banker,  the  Merchant,  and  the 
Manufacturer,  and  yourselves  pass  it  by  ?  As  sure  as  you 
do  you  give  them  a  monopoly  —  the  monopoly  of  knowledge ! 

In  October,  1912,  Mr.  J.  B.  Howard,  Chief  of  the  Micro- 
chemical  Laboratory  of  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture,  was  passing  through  Rome,  studying  Italian 
pure  food  legislation,  and  met  Mr.  Lubin  who  gave  him  some 
assistance  in  approaching  the  Italian  authorities.  Here 
again  Lubin  saw  a  field  where  international  action  would  be 


LUBIN  THE  INTERNATIONALIST  295 

valuable ;  here  again  the  facts  of  world  trade  had  outgrown 
the  theories  of  national  particularism,  and  the  failure  to 
recognize  this  new  condition  was  creating  waste  and  con- 
fusion, leaving  open  loopholes  for  unfair  competition,  sowing 
the  seeds  of  those  economic  conflicts  which  slowly  but  surely 
mature  ill-will  in  the  political  sphere.  The  Institute  had 
been  founded  to  deal  with  just  such  problems,  and  Lubin, 
with  the  eloquent  assistance  of  Luigi  Luzzatti,  brought  the 
matter  before  the  Permanent  Committee.  As  usual,  he  was 
miles  ahead  of  his  colleagues ;  the  food  was  too  rich  for  their 
stomachs,  and  nothing  came  of  the  effort,  at  that  time ;  but 
as  Lubin  then  said,  that  has  not  ended  the  matter. 

He  did  not  suffer  from  the  fond  delusion  that  a  few  govern- 
ment delegates  in  the  Institute  could  bring  about  the  era 
of  an  organized  world.  The  Institute  was  but  a  point  on 
which  to  focus  the  concerted  effort  of  all  concerned.  From 
the  early  days  of  his  advocacy  he  had  urged  the  need  of 
making  the  common  man,  the  farmer  with  mud  on  his  boots, 
the  trade-union  workman,  the  people  at  large,  feel  them- 
selves part  and  parcel  of  the  effort,  realize  that  it  was  essen- 
tially their  fight.  When  he  talked  of  a  "Lower  House"  as 
part  of  the  proposed  organization,  he  meant  this  and  no 
less.  The  diplomats  in  their  wisdom  had  ruled  out  this 
feature  of  the  work,  but  he  did  not  recognize  their  decision 
as  final :  it  was  simply  the  short-sighted  view  of  men  who 
would  gain  breadth  of  vision,  he  believed,  as  the  work  itself 
evolved  and  taught  them  its  lesson. 

In  a  series  of  letters  addressed  in  the  spring  of  1911  to  the 
Ministers  of  Agriculture  of  Spain,  Rumania,  Peru  and  Chili, 
Lubin  urged  the  formation  in  each  adhering  country  of  a 
committee  of  representative  merchants,  financiers,  econo- 
mists and  farmers  to  study  the  reports  of  the  Institute  and 
interpret  their  meaning  into  terms  of  action  for  the  farmer. 

"If  such  organization  is  to  be  effective,"  he  wrote  to  the 
Minister  of  Agriculture  of  Peru,  "it  should  not  merely  be 
by  individual  nations,  but  the  nations  adopting  it  should 


296  DAVID  LUBIN 

form  into  groups  and  the  various  groups  should  have  a  more 
or  less  defined  unity  of  action.  .  .  .  Such  unions  could  be 
made  fruitful  in  economic  benefits.  As  you  know,  at  the 
present  time  much  of  the  product  of  South  America  is  con- 
trolled by  individuals  and  trusts  in  the  United  States  and 
England,  and  some  on  the  Continent  of  Europe.  That  is 
largely  owing  to  the  greater  ease  of  coalescing  capital  with 
its  concomitant  energy,  than  of  coalescing  the  products  of 
agriculture  so  long  as  they  are  in  the  hands  of  the  producers. 
The  plan  proposed  here  is  calculated  to  balance  the  power  of 
concentrated  capital  on  the  one  hand,  by  the  products  in  the 
hands  of  the  producers  on  the  other. 

"You  are,  of  course,  aware  of  the  power  of  conserved 
capital  and  of  the  rapid  increase  in  the  number  and  volume 
of  such  concentrations,  aided  largely  by  the  modern  facilities 
of  communication  and  carriage.  The  meat  trusts  of  the 
United  States,  for  instance,  have  not  alone  obtained  control 
of  the  meats  of  the  United  States,  but  they  have  extended 
their  operations  to  the  control  of  that  product  in  South  Amer- 
ica, and  lately  I  saw  in  the  London  Times  that  these  meat 
trusts  were  endeavoring  also  to  control  the  meat  product  of 
Australia,  to  prevent  which  the  Commonwealth  of  Australia 
is  attempting  legislation.  But,  in  my  opinion,  legislation 
can  hardly  afford  a  remedy ;  there  must  be  created  a  balance 
of  power  between  conserved  capital  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
products  in  the  hands  of  the  producers  on  the  other,  and  this 
is  the  purpose  of  the  organization  proposed  in  this  commun- 
ication." 

The  esoteric  doctrine  all  this  held  for  the  initiated  can  be 
gathered  from  the  following  letter  addressed  from  Washing- 
ton in  May,  1910,  to  the  late  WiHiam  T.  Stead : 

.  .  .  Nations  are  dynamically  active  on  one  of  two  lines ; 
in  seeking  advantage  and  in  avoiding  disadvantage.  Mere 
abstract  equity  is,  to  them,  of  no  importance.  Thus  it 
follows  that  effective  direction  may  only  be  exercised  within 
the  limitations  of  this  boundary.  If  this  be  assented  to, 
what  must  follow  ?  This :  that  we  must  approach  the 
Peace  question  on  that  line,  and  when  we  do  .  .  .  what 
follows  ?     What  but  Equity  ?     For  an  advantage  to  all  is  a 


LUBIN   THE   INTERNATIONALIST  297 

special  advantage  to  none;  it  is  simply  Equity.  And  the 
same  is  the  case  with  the  removal  of  disadvantage.  .  .  . 

How  may  this  be  attained  ?  Why  not  through  some  such 
way  as  the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture?  Not, 
of  course,  as  it  is  to-day,  but  as  it  can  become  by  the  direc- 
tion of  science  and  genius.  And  even  then  that  would  be 
but  the  beginning  .  .  .  there  can  be  an  international  cham- 
ber of  commerce,  an  international  department  of  land  and 
sea  transportation,  an  international  bureau  of  labor,  an  inter- 
national commerce  commission,  an  international  initiative 
and  an  international  referendum. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  possible  way  of  realizing  the  much 
desired  United  States  of  the  World,  the  world  where  swords 
and  spears  will  be  beaten  into  plowshares  and  pruning  hooks ; 
where  every  man  shall  sit  under  his  own  vine  and  figtree 
with  no  man  to  make  him  afraid. 

From  the  first  Lubin  had  clearly  seen  that  the  activities 
of  the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture  would  need  to 
be  completed  by  those  of  an  International  Commerce  Com- 
mission. Years  of  work  on  the  transportation  phase  of  the 
agricultural  problem  in  California  had  taught  him  that 
rates  of  carriage  exercise  a  controlling  influence  over  the 
price  which  the  farmer  can  get  for  his  crop.  And  here  again 
he  saw  a  field  in  which  anarchic  fortuity  must  give  way  to 
design  if  equity  in  exchange  is  to  prevail.  Even  before  the 
Institute  opened  he  had  taken  up  this  question  in  Washington 
with  some  of  the  Department  men  and  with  Secretary  Wil- 
son, but  had  been  misunderstood.  He  soon  learned  that  to 
get  a  reputation  for  having  "too  many  ideas"  is  to  be  looked 
upon  with  suspicion.  He  had  taken  it  up  in  London  in  1908, 
just  before  the  Institute  convened,  in  a  conference  with 
Major  Webb,  the  President  of  the  Baltic  Shipping  Exchange. 
Again  when  in  Washington  in  1910,  he  had  reviewed  the 
commercial  aspects  of  the  case  with  Secretary  of  Commerce 
Nagel,  and  the  then  Director  of  the  Census,  Doctor  Dana 
Durand.  In  the  Permanent  Committee  he  had  frequently 
called  attention  to  the  need  for  data  on  ocean  freight  rates, 


298  DAVID   LUBIN 

but  the  subject  had  been  brushed  aside  as  irrelevant  to  an 
institution  which  dealt  with  agriculture. 

Yet  those  very  same  years  were  witnessing  the  application 
to  the  merchant  marines  of  the  world  of  those  principles  of 
concentration  of  capital  and  energy  which  had  made  the 
great  industrial  trusts  so  formidable.  In  1913  these  phenom- 
ena were  the  objects  of  exhaustive  study  by  government 
commissions  both  in  the  United  States  and  in  Great  Britain. 
Their  findings  showed  the  existence  of  great  Anglo-German 
shipping  rings  and  agreements,  practically  controlling  the 
freight  markets  of  the  world  and  driving  competition  out  of 
existence.  Now,  Lubin  could  see  that  in  many  directions 
these  combines  marked  a  progress ;  they  made  for  efficiency 
and  regularity  of  service,  they  stood  for  organization  against 
anarchy ;  but  he  also  saw  the  danger  noted  in  the  British 
Report :  "  the  disadvantages  of  the  system  are  those  which 
are  usually  inseparable  from  a  monopoly  not  subject  to 
control."  When  he  came  to  look  closely  into  the  system  as 
it  affected  farm  staples,  the  magnitude  of  the  evil  and  the 
possibilities  it  left  open  for  price  manipulation  by  irrespon- 
sible shipping  trusts  appalled  him  and  seemed  to  call  for 
immediate  action.  The  great  shipping  companies  of  the 
leading  countries  had  formed  into  rings  which  gave  them  a 
practical  monopoly  of  international  ocean  carriage,  and 
while  those  rings  gave  fixed  rates  of  carriage  for  package 
(i.e.  manufactured)  goods,  the  rates  for  the  carriage  of  the 
staples  of  agriculture,  cereals,  cotton,  wool,  etc.,  fluctuated, 
in  the  words  of  the  Secretary  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  "from  day  to  day  and  from  hour  to  hour.'* 
Lubin  saw  that  this  afforded  an  opportunity  for  control, 
through  fluctuating  charter  rates,  not  only  of  the  export 
but  also  of  the  home  price  of  the  staples  in  the  great  producing 
countries ;  for  the  price  of  a  staple  may  be  said  to  vary  in 
inverse  ratio  to  the  cost  of  carriage  from  the  producing  point 
to  the  world  market  center,  Liverpool.  Thus  the  eco- 
nomic status  of  such  countries  as  Russia,  the  Argentine, 
Canada,  and  so  forth  were  practically  placed  at  the  mercy 


LUBIN  THE  INTERNATIONALIST  299 

of  the  shipping  rings.  By  differential  tariffs  and  prefer- 
ential treatment  they  could  make  or  unmake  the  prosperity 
of  ports  and  countries;  they  could  cause  the  price  of  the 
food  and  clothing  of  the  world  to  vibrate  in  sympathy  with 
arbitrarily  imposed  fluctuations  in  the  rates  of  carriage. 
Surely  this  was  placing  in  the  hands  of  private  and  irrespon- 
sible companies  a  dangerous  power,  a  power  which  they 
should  not  have. 

He  saw  here  one  of  those  obscure  causes,  little  if  at  all 
understood  or  realized  by  the  world  at  large,  which  disturb 
and  distort  economic  relations,  jeopardizing  the  stability  and 
safety  of  States  and  Nations,  giving  rise  to  depressions 
and  crises  which  the  mass  who  suffer  most  therefrom  attrib- 
ute to  causes  which  in  reality  are  but  effects  of  a  condition 
which  escapes  their  ken.  "The  really  dangerous  anarchist 
is  not  the  man  with  the  red  tie  who  spits  on  the  sawdust- 
sprinkled  floor  and  talks  revolution ;  the  arch-anarchist 
is  the  manipulator,  the  trust,  the  shipping  ring,  usurping 
power,  subordinating  collective  to  individual  interests,"  he 
used  to  say. 

The  more  he  studied  the  question,  the  more  firmly  Lubin 
was  led  to  believe  that  on  the  solution  of  the  problems  of 
carriage,  almost  more  than  on  any  other  single  factor,  de- 
pended the  possibility  of  rendering  the  price  of  farm  staples 
stable  instead  of  highly  speculative.  But  he  also  saw  that 
their  solution  called  for  joint  action  by  the  nations  through 
an  international  organ,  for  shipping  rings  and  combines, 
residing  in  one  country  and  doing  trade  the  world  over, 
could  never  be  effectively  regulated  by  national  legislation. 

He  believed  that  ocean  carriage  as  affecting  directly  and 
indirectly  interests  far  transcending  those  which  can  be 
legitimately  left  to  private  control  should  be  considered  as  a 
"public  utility**  no  less  than  the  railways,  which,  from  an 
early  date  in  their  history,  have  been  subject  to  control  in 
the  interests  of  the  public  at  large;  that  the  problems  in- 
volved in  ocean  carriage  called  for  regulation  by  an  Inter- 
national Commerce  Commission  which  should  be  for  the 


SOO  DAVID  LUBIN 

world  what  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  was  for 
the  United  States. 

He  now  saw  that  the  International  Commerce  Commission 
which  he  had  long  felt  to  be  a  need,  was  a  vital  necessity  if 
the  carrier  was  to  be  the  servant  and  not  the  master  of  the 
product,  and  nothing  daimted  by  the  cool  reception  his  pro- 
posal received  within  the  Institute,  he  set  out  in  the  late 
spring  of  1914  for  Washington  to  fight  his  case  out  there.  If 
he  could  get  the  American  farmer  to  realize  that  the  uncertain 
factor  of  the  cost  of  ocean  carriage  necessarily  made  the  trade 
in  the  staples  of  agriculture  a  highly  speculative  one,  if  he 
could  get  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  indorse  the 
need  for  an  international  inquiry  into  the  whole  question, 
he  felt  that  a  new  and  important  step  would  have  been  taken 
towards  the  upbuilding  of  an  organized  world  common- 
wealth. 

Physically,  David  Lubin  was  visibly  growing  old.  In-« 
tense  "mental  pressure",  as  he  phrased  it,  had  told  on  his 
powerful  physique.  It  aggravated  the  cough  which  never 
left  him,  breaking  into  his  rest  and  putting  his  whole  nervous 
system  on  the  "ragged  edge.'*  Periods  of  illness  which 
confined  him  for  weeks  to  his  room  grew  more  and  more 
frequent,  but  his  spirit  was  indomitable,  and  he  worked  from 
his  sick  bed  as  long  hours  and  as  intensely  as  when  in  his 
oflSce.  Indeed,  as  he  felt  his  lease  of  life  slipping  from  hrm, 
the  urge  to  accomplish  became  a  feverish  anxiety.  He  was 
like  a  man  working  against  time,  "for  the  night  cometh  when 
no  man  can  work."  He  grew  impatient  of  all  trifles  that 
interfered  with  or  distracted  him.  Never  have  I  come  across 
any  one  who  united  so  well-balanced  a  brain  with  the  faculty 
for  such  intense,  exclusive  concentration  on  a  self-appointed 
task. 

As  I  look  over  these  pages  with  their  constant  reference 
to  such  dry,  prosaic  subjects  as  tariff,  transportation,  sum- 
mary of  the  world's  visible  supply,  ocean  freight  rates, 
etc.,  and  think  of  David  Lubin  as  I  knew  him  and  as 
he  impressed  all  with  whom  he  came  into  close  contact,  I 


LUBIN  THE  INTERNATIONALIST  301 

wonder  whether  the  reader  will  get  even  a  glimpse  of  the 
real  man.  The  real  David  Lubin  lived  a  great,  an  entrancing 
romance ;  the  work  to  him  was  sacred.  For  all  his  apparent 
dogmatism  and  self-assurance,  he  approached  it  in  a  spirit  of 
humility  and  prayer.  I  remember  that  before  starting  on 
the  composition  of  one  of  the  little  tracts  in  which  he  set 
forth  his  views  on  ocean  carriage,  he  got  me  to  read  him 
through  the  book  of  Isaiah.  It  was  to  such  works  that  he 
went  for  inspiration,  while  Blue  Books  furnished  the  data. 
To  him  the  work  was  a  greater  "Marseillaise"  hymn,  as 
he  used  to  phrase  it.  The  purpose  was  Emancipation; 
emancipation  from  the  chains  which  man's  ignorance  and 
greed  have  forged  for  him.  He  was  working  for  the  Messi- 
anic age  none  the  less  truly  because  the  subjects  he  dis- 
cussed were  those  familiar  to  the  wheat-pit  operator  and  the 
shipping  agent;  and  he  brought  apostolic  fervor  to  their 
solution. 

He  would  have  fits  of  deep  despondency,  but  he  would 
come  out  of  them,  pull  himself  together,  and  rejoice  in  his 
work.  "To  do  such  work  is  the  greatest  joy  and  privilege 
a  human  being  can  aspire  to,"  he  has  often  said  to  me,  and  he 
held  himself  ready,  like  a  soldier,  to  leave  whenever  marching 
orders  came.  No  considerations  of  health  or  comfort  or 
personal  happiness  were  allowed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  what 
the  cause  demanded. 

And  thus  in  June,  1914,  David  Lubin  rose  from  a  sick  bed, 
and  accompanied  by  his  young  daughter,  Dorothy,  set  off 
for  Washington  to  place  the  ocean  carriage  proposal  before 
the  people  of  the  United  States. 

"We  have  a  Monroe  Doctrine  when  no  crown  is  permitted 
to  enlarge  its  sphere  an  inch  further  on  the  great  North  and 
South  American  Continent,"  he  had  written  some  years 
before  to  his  friend,  Sam  Gompers,  "but  there  is  a  greater 
Monroe  Doctrine  than  this.  The  great,  inextinguishable 
son  of  liberty,  our  beloved  Uncle  Sam,  is  to  take  possession 
of  every  inch  of  land  and  water  and  air  on  this  habitable 
globe.     Not  territorially,  mind  you,  but  spiritually.     The 


302  DAVID  LUBIN 

Law  went  forth  from  Sinai;  but  the  modern  Law,  the  law 
of  humanizing  and  civilizing  and  uplifting,  is  to  go  forth 
from  within  the  domain  of  the  United  States  for  the  whole 
world."  He  went  to  spread  this  broader  Monroe  Doctrine, 
to  get  the  United  States  to  point  the  path  with  significant, 
outstretched,  index  finger. 

He  soon  collected  round  him  in  Washington  a  group  of 
influential  men  deeply  interested  in  the  case  he  placed  be- 
fore them.  The  Chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on 
Merchant  Marine,  Joshua  W.  Alexander,  whose  report  on 
shipping  combines  had  furnished  Lubin  with  most  of  his 
ammunition;  Mr.  Flood,  Chairman  of  the  Foreign  Af- 
fairs Committee ;  Senators  Duncan  U.  Fletcher  and  Morris 
Shepherd ;  his  old  friend  Julius  Kahn ;  Congressman  Good- 
win and  many  others  in  the  House,  with  the  support  of  State 
Granges,  Farmers  associations  and  the  Southern  Commer- 
cial Congress,  introduced  a  Joint  Resolution  into  Congress 
favoring  action  by  the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture 
towards  calling  a  conference  of  the  several  governments  with 
a  view  to  the  foundation  of  an  International  Commerce 
Commission.  This  commission  was  to  have  deliberative, 
consultative  and  advisory  powers  and  was  to  consider  the 
whole  question  of  ocean  carriage  in  its  bearing  on  the  staples 
of  agriculture. 

On  August  30  Lubin  wrote  me:  "When  I  came  here  I 
started  in  and  seemed  to  make  such  gratifying  headway  that 
it  looked  as  if  a  week  would  be  sufficient.  I  arrived  here 
on  the  tenth  of  July,  and  no  action  yet.  However,  there  is 
some  hope  that  it  may  come  up  to-morrow,  and  if  not  then, 
I  will  have  to  try  for  some  other  day.  It  would  be  more  than 
foolish  to  be  peevish  and  to  grumble,  especially  so  when  Con- 
gressmen tell  that  they,  as  members,  with  months  of  labor, 
were  not  able  to  get  for  their  own  measures  the  attention  that 
this  has  succeeded  in  having,  so  you  see  that  it  is  all  a  ques- 
tion of  'praying  hard  and  keeping  the  powder  dry.*"  On 
the  second  of  September,  inclosing  the  text  of  the  Joint 
Resolution  just  adopted  by  Congress,  he  writes:    "Well, 


LUBIN  THE  INTERNATIONALIST  303 

from  the  enclosed  you  will  see  that  ocean  carriage  has  won 
out,  and  a  great  big  victory  it  is  for  the  Institute.  Other 
nations  can  no  longer  dismiss  this  matter  with  a  wave  of  the 
hand.  Presently  it  will  be  up  in  every  country  in  the 
world." 

Meanwhile,  as  the  dates  show,  the  almost  incredible  had 
happened,  and  Europe  was  convulsed  by  a  great  war.  An 
interval  of  five  years  of  unparalleled  suffering  and  dis- 
aster opened  in  the  life  of  the  nations.  The  phenomena  of 
economic  life,  enlarged  as  by  some  giant  magnifying-glass, 
more  especially  those  connected  with  the  production,  distri- 
bution, and  carriage  of  farm  staples,  forced  themselves  on 
the  attention  not  only  of  the  statesman  and  the  economist 
but  of  the  man  in  the  street.  Much  that  David  Lubin  had 
been  urging  for  years  on  apparently  deaf  ears  came  to  be 
accepted  as  self-evident  truth ;  the  world  witnessed  the  par- 
adox of  war  bringing  about  unity  and  cooperation  among  a 
whole  series  of  nations  in  a  degree  which  would  have  seemed 
wildly  Utopian  in  times  of  peace.  But  of  course  it  was  im- 
possible during  such  times  to  carry  into  effect  the  proposed 
world  conference  on  ocean  freight  rates ;  and  when  the  tragic 
interval  was  ended  and  the  times  were  ripe  for  just  such 
action,  the  Pioneer  had  ended  his  term  of  service  on  earth. 

The  torch  is  handed  on ;  the  work  in  which  David  Lubin 
was  so  faithful  and  diligent  a  worker  is  being  performed  by 
many  agencies  which  have  since  arisen,  mostly  centering 
around  that  League  of  Nations  which  with  all  its  blunderings, 
limitations  and  defects  yet  contains  the  nucleus  of  future 
greatness.  Several  of  the  departments  of  a  World  Ad- 
ministration which  Lubin  named  in  May,  1910,  in  his  letter 
to  William  T.  Stead,  are  now  accomplished  facts :  the  Inter- 
national Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  International  Labor 
Bureau  with  its  section  for  the  regulation  of  migratory  labor, 
the  International  Transport  section  of  the  League.  One  day, 
some  day,  in  our  time  or  centuries  hence,  the  rest  will  follow. 
But  in  an  age  when,  as  David  Lubin  himself  phrased  it,  the 
tendency   is  to  attribute   "primary   honors   to  secondary 


S04  DAVID   LUBIN 

persons",  when  "commentators,  sleek  and  fat",  are  crowned 
with  the  laurel  wreath  and  the  "original  promulgator  re- 
ceives for  reward  scorn  and  a  crown  of  thorns",  it  is  well  to 
remember.  As  one  of  his  active  cooperators  of  later  years. 
Doctor  Clarence  J.  Owens  well  said  in  a  singularly  penetrat- 
ing appreciation  written  shortly  after  Mr.  Lubin's  death : 

"David  Lubin's  vision  carried  him  far  beyond  agricultural 
organization  in  the  International  Institute.  He  was  the 
Father  of  the  first  League  of  Nations,  a  League  that  held 
fast  through  the  period  of  the  world  war,  the  only  body  from 
which  the  belligerents  never  recalled  their  delegates,  so  that 
the  one  tie  that  held  through  the  military  conflicts  and  dark- 
ness of  the  war  was  the  force  brought  into  existence  under 
the  leadership  of  this  great  Calif ornian  Jew." 


CHAPTER  XVin 

DAVID    LTJBIN   AS   EDUCATOR 

When  David  Lubin  had  got  through  with  his  seven  or 
eight  hours'  day  of  work  in  the  Institute  he  would  go  home 
to  the  rooms  he  occupied  in  the  Hotel  de  Russie,  get  out  of 
harness,  and  relax  with  wife  and  children  for  two  or  three 
hours,  before  picking  up  his  book  and  reading  hard,  often 
into  the  small  hours  of  the  morning. 

He  was  a  remarkable  educator  and  delighted  in  the  com- 
pany of  children.  He  could  enter  into  their  fun  and  win 
their  confidence,  and  prided  himself  not  a  little  on  the  fact 
that  children  took  to  him.  He  would  read  Mother  Goose 
rhymes  with  the  wee  ones,  and  tell  wonderful  stories  of  ad- 
venture which  they  would  follow  with  breathless  interest. 
His  absorption  in  his  work  did  not  prevent  him  from  de- 
voting a  great  deal  of  time  and  thought  to  the  education  of 
his  three  young  children,  Dorothy,  Grace,  and  Teddy,  during 
the  years  in  Rome. 

He  had  no  love  of  precocity  in  the  child,  but  just  as  he 
never  "talked  down"  to  an  uneducated  man,  believing  that 
all  minds  are  capable  of  interest  in  serious  and  worthwhile 
things  if  clearly  stated,  so  he  never  "talked  down"  to  chil- 
dren. The  child  responds  readily  to  nobility  in  thought  and 
expression,  and  Lubin  believed  that  most  real  fundamental 
truths  can  be  so  clearly  and  simply  stated  as  to  appeal  to  the 
child's  mind. 

A  quick  brain  reveals  itself  in  a  quick  eye,  a  sharp  ear, 
a  rapid,  skilful  hand  no  less  than  in  mental  gymnastics,  and 
he  was  a  great  believer  in  games  as  a  means  of  training  the 
senses.  He  attached  great  importance  to  clear  enunciation, 
deeming  it  an  index  to  clear,  as  opposed  to  muddy  and  in- 
volved, thinking.     Harmony  in  sound  and  form  he  conceived 


306  DAVID  LUBIN 

of  as  the  resultant  of  balance,  a  manifestation  of  imminent 
justice;  therefore  an  appreciation  of  music,  singing,  and 
beauty  in  design  he  held  to  be  an  essential  part  of  moral 
training.  For  him  education  consisted  essentially  in  train- 
ing the  senses  to  receive  accurate  impressions,  the  mind  to 
observation,  deduction  and  generalization  on  the  basis  of 
said  impressions,  when  the  character  will  be  formed  to  re- 
ject the  unethical  and  to  act  with  decision  and  rapidity  along 
the  lines  of  the  ethical. 

Such  were  the  lines  on  which  he  trained  his  children. 
Lots  of  fun  and  games,  an  atmosphere  of  warm,  demonstra- 
tive aflFection  —  he  was  very  fond  of  coaxing  and  being 
coaxed  by  the  young  ones  —  an  early  awakening  of  the  re- 
ligious instinct,  so  closely  allied  in  the  child  to  the  imagin- 
ative and  the  emotional. 

He  made  a  point  of  reading  to  them  aloud,  passing  from 
nursery  rhymes  to  fairy  tales,  to  books  of  adventure  and 
travel,  to  popular  science  and  history,  and  by  the  time  the 
girls  were  thirteen  and  fourteen  they  were  ready  for  richer 
food.  During  a  whole  winter  he  made  a  regular  practice  of 
reading  with  them  Plato's  Dialogues.  Engaging  in  regular 
debates  he  would  add  zest  to  the  proceedings  by  awarding 
prizes  for  every  apt  answer  and  independent  deduction  or 
generalization.  He  was  a  great  believer  in  debate  and 
criticism,  which  he  considered  the  very  basis  of  Democracy, 
and  he  would  bring  home  the  papers  he  prepared  in  the 
Institute  on  the  various  questions  which  engaged  his  atten- 
tion and  read  them  with  wife  and  children  and  get  the  opin- 
ions of  one  and  all. 

Ill-health  had  deprived  him  of  the  possibility  of  walking, 
but  whenever  he  had  a  breathing  spell  he  would  drive  round 
by  the  hour  with  the  children  in  the  rickety  Roman  cabs, 
choosing  by  preference  the  busy  streets  of  the  poorer  quarters 
of  the  town.  He  never  mastered  the  Italian  language,  yet 
in  spite  of  this  he  gained  no  small  insight  into  the  Italian 
character  and  temperament.  He  came  to  have  a  very  high 
regard  for  the  nation  in  whose  midst  he  lived  so  many  years. 


DAVID  LUBIN  AS  EDUCATOR  307 

He  considered  the  people  essentially  kindly  and  humane; 
noted  the  decorous,  modest  demeanor  of  the  average  woman ; 
the  fondness  for  children ;  the  sobriety,  industry  and  thrift 
of  the  working  classes ;  the  keen  intellectual  insight  of  the 
cultured.  He  believed  that  what  held  Italy  back  from 
taking  the  preeminent  position  so  many  qualities  entitled 
her  to  was  a  strong  tinge  of  intellectual  pessimism  and  skepti- 
cism which  paralyzed  the  Italians  for  action,  resulting  in  the 
failure  of  the  educated  to  give  adequate  leadership  to  the 
peasantry  and  the  workers  in  progressive  development,  and 
he  believed  that  this  defect  could  be  largely  modified  by 
closer  relations  with  the  younger,  more  dynamic  democracies 
of  the  new  world. 

Next  to  driving,  his  favorite  relaxations  were  the  opera 
and  the  cinematograph.  He  did  not  indulge  in  them  fre- 
quently, but  when  he  did  he  liked  to  have  a  full  dose,  to 
start  at  the  beginning  and  sit  the  show  out  to  the  very  end, 
and  if  he  had  his  way,  he  would  go  to  three  sets  of  movmg 
pictures  in  succession.  A  procession  of  two  or  three  cabs, 
taking  Lubin  and  his  family  and  all  the  friends  he  met  and 
could  press  into  the  party  to  the  cinematograph,  would  often 
leave  the  Hotel  de  Russie  on  a  Sunday  afternoon. 

Nor  had  he  forgotten  his  early  love  of  his  old  fiddle.  He 
brought  it  to  Rome  and  would  play  the  "Arkansas  Trav- 
eller", "Dixie  Land",  "Old  Black  Joe",  and  other  such 
classics,  and  laugh  at  himself  heartily  for  his  pains,  wonder- 
ing how  much  of  an  audience  he  could  get  if  he  were  to  pay 
them  fifty  cents  apiece  to  attend. 

In  those  latter  years  he  hardly  ever  went  out  to  see  people, 
but  many  interesting  persons  would  look  him  up  in  the  course 
of  a  year.  Doctor  Felix  Adler,  Professor  William  Roscoe 
Thayer,  Mr.  Oscar  Straus,  the  painters  Elihu  Vedder  and 
Charles  Walter  Stetson  and  his  gifted  wife,  the  sculptor 
Ezekiel,  the  historian  Guglielmo  Ferrero,  Will  Irwin  and 
his  wife.  Miss  Rose  Cleveland,  Professor  Dana  Durand,  are 
a  few  of  the  names  that  occur  to  me.  Mrs.  Rhys  Davids, 
the  great  student  of  Sanskrit  and  Hindu  philosophy,  was  one 


308  DAVID   LUBIN 

of  those  of  whom  he  saw  much  during  the  winter  of  1912- 
1913,  and  many  were  the  talks  they  had  on  their  favorite 
philosophic  themes. 

"Since  I  saw  you  the  Montessori  methods  have  become 
a  household  word  in  England,  and  that  always  brings  up 
before  me  your  little  granddaughter  and  her  mother.  And 
then  I  'm  back  in  that  room  with  the  piano  and  the  violin 
and  the  dangling  string  and  the  old  melodies  and  the  great 
D.  L.  in  his  shirt  sleeves  —  my  best  Roman  memory!" 
Mrs.  Davids  wrote  to  him  in  June,  1913. 

The  following  letter,  of  an  earlier  date,  written  to  his  son 
Sie  when  a  student  at  Harvard  (October,  1900),  is  character- 
istic of  his  mode  of  training : 

Your  two  letters  received.  I  have  gone  over  your  list 
of  appropriations  for  the  $1,200.  ...  If  you  desire  to 
benefit  by  any  financial  experience  I  may  have,  I  would  say 
that  your  list  does  not  permit  the  outcome  most  conducive 
to  freedom ;  that  freedom  of  mind  at  once  the  concomitant 
of  the  design  and  act  of  a  philosopher.  For  to  begin  with 
—  show  me  the  philosopher  whose  financial  arrangements 
are  at  the  start  void  of  philosophy  and  we  may  conclude  that 
such  a  person  is  not  on  the  track  of  philosophy  at  all.  Phi- 
losophy above  all  things  is  involved  in  a  state  of  freedom  from 
any  and  all  perturbation  of  mind,  and  no  one  is  or  can  be  a 
philosopher  who  can  not,  like  Richelieu  in  the  play,  mark 
a  circle  around  himself  and  say :  "Any  and  all  kinds  of  per- 
turbation of  the  mind  shall  remain  outside  of  this  circle." 
Doing  this,  and  the  pupil  is  on  the  high  road  to  that  blessed 
state  known  as  philosophy.  Not  being  able  to  do  this,  and  the 
person  is  simply  an  everyday  clown  in  cap  and  gown.  .  .  . 
Taking  all  in  all,  the  philosopher  will  so  arrange  his  afifairs 
as  to  reduce  any  and  all  probable  mind  perturbation  to  the 
lowest  denomination.  And  to  push  these  into  a  corner 
unto  a  day  of  reckoning  is  not  philosophical,  but  the  very 
reverse. 

The  following  extracts  are  from  his  correspondence  with 
his  three  younger  children,  when  the  two  girls  were  in  Bryn 


DAVID  LUBIN  AS  EDUCATOR  309 

Mawr  and  the  boy  in  Charterhouse,  England.  Though 
never  expert  with  the  typewriter,  he  used  to  devote  each 
alternate  Sunday  morning  to  thumping  out  these  letters 
slowly  and  laboriously  on  his  Underwood,  as  writer's  cramp 
had  for  many  years  crippled  him  for  handwriting.  The 
material  difficulty  of  the  task  is  undoubtedly  reflected  in  the 
style ;  the  cramped  hand  hinders  the  flow  of  thought.  But 
then,  smooth  facility  was  as  alien  to  him  in  thought  and 
speech  as  in  writing.  He  dug  his  way  slowly  and  painfully 
from  certain  fixed  principles  to  closely  reasoned  conclusions 
by  lines  of  argument  often  highly  original  and  unexpected. 
A  biography  which  failed  to  give  a  glimpse  of  him  in  the 
character  of  paterfamilias  and  educator  would  be  incomplete. 

Hotel  de  Russia,  Rome,  March  18th,  1917. 

My  dear  Dorothy,  and 
My  dear  Gracie,  and 
My  dear  Teddy : 

I  am  disposed  to  supplement  my  several  letters  to  you  on 
the  subject  of  "learning",  or  rather  how  to  learn.  .  .  . 
In  my  previous  letters  I  compared  the  operation  of  the  mind 
to  that  of  a  kaleidoscope,  the  mind  storing  impressions  just 
as  the  kaleidoscope's  colored  and  angled  pieces  of  glass  are 
stored  in  their  respective  receptacles.  By  turning  the 
kaleidoscope  we  assemble  the  stored  pieces  of  glass  in  certain 
combinations,  which,  seen  by  the  aid  of  some  small  mirrors, 
result  in  producing  certain  designs. 

But  the  action  of  the  mind  is  much  more  wonderful,  for 
the  stored  impressions  in  the  mind  can  be  made  to  combine 
into  an  endless  number  of  combinations,  forming,  if  we  would 
have  them  do  so,  our  ideas  of  an  idea,  our  conclusions  and  our 
opinions.  This  action  is  so  regularly,  so  easily,  and  so  un- 
erringly performed  that  we  seldom  are  sufficiently  spurred 
on  to  perceive  its  mode  of  operation. 

Are  we  not  mistaken  when  we  say  "unerringly",  for  if 
this  were  the  case  without  any  qualification  between  one 
mind  and  another,  would  it  not  be  equal  to  saying  that  all 
minds  are  of  equal  quality?     No,  there  is  no  mistake,  nor 


310  DAVID  LUBIN 

need  it  follow  that "  all  minds  are  of  equal  quality."  The  law 
of  thought,  like  all  other  law,  operates  "unerringly";  and 
just  as  imperfectly  colored  or  imperfectly  angled  pieces  of 
glass  in  a  kaleidoscope  would  produce  an  imperfect  design, 
so  defective  or  deficient  impressions  on  the  mind  would  pro- 
duce imperfect  conclusions  or  opinions. 

Another  illustration  is  afforded  in  the  action  of  the  films 
in  a  moving  picture,  where  we  see  that  pictures  are  repro- 
duced in  combination  with  other  pictures,  and  thus  intended 
to  form  conclusions  and  opinions.  But  how  infinitely  more 
wonderful  the  action  of  the  mind ! 

Is  it  not  wonderful  to  see  that  during  the  time  we  are 
awake  our  mind  acts  as  a  receiver,  ever  making  and  storing 
films,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  that  this  is  going  on,  the 
"show"  of  combination,  conclusion,  and  opinion-making 
is  going  on  right  along  at  the  same  time  ? 

"But  the  conclusions  and  opinions  may  be  untrue,  worth- 
less." 

"To  be  sure  they  may,  they  can  be  no  better  than  the 
thousands  of  films  and  millions  of  pictures  stored  in  the  mind 
will  let  them  be." 

"Who  then  wants  to  be  weak  and  who  desires  to  be  strong  ? 
.  .  .  Do  we  wish  to  be  mentally  weak  ?  No ;  we  do  not ! 
But  is  there  nothing  to  be  done  in  order  to  become  mentally 
strong?" 

"Yes,  certainly." 

"Well,  what?" 

"To  be  careful  to  avoid  lumbering  up  the  storeroom  of 
the  mind  with  poor,  worthless  mind-films,  but  to  store  up  the 
very  best  possible  for  us  to  obtain  and  as  many  of  them  as 
possible." 

"Yes,  that  is  good  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  that  is  not  enough, 
for  we  may  store  and  store,  and  yet  be  as  weak  mentally  as 
ever.  See:  supposing  the  caretaker  of  the  library  in  the 
British  Museum  were  to  devote  all  his  spare  time  among  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  books  there,  —  would  it  follow 
that  he  would  become  a  mentally  strong  man?" 

"No;  the  mere  storing  of  the  films  makes  no  money  for 
the  moving-picture  show;  it  is  the  showing  of  the  pictures 
that  earns  the  money.    And  so  in  the  case  of  the  mind.    It 


DAVID  LUBIN  AS  EDUCATOR  311 

is  not  the  storing  of  the  mind-films  alone  that  makes  the 
strong  mind,  but  the  storing  and  the  using  does  that. 

"And  the  using  is  nothing  else  than  thinking.  And  as  we 
know,  there  is  nothing  done  more  constantly  than  thinking. 
In  fact,  we  do  thinking  all  the  time  we  are  awake,  for  we 
cannot  stop  the  mind  from  thinking,  even  if  we  want  to. 
It  just  thinks  on  its  own  hook. 

"And  yet  there  are  but  very  few  that  do  any  thinking 
that  is  worth  while,  and  so  long  as  we  do  that  kind  of  useless 
thinking,  we  had  better  not  do  any  at  all." 

"But,"  you  say,  "it  was  shown  above  that  we  cannot 
help  thinking ;  that  the  mind  'just  thinks  on  its  own  hook. ' " 

"Yes,  it  does ;  but  these  are  the  weak,  the  feeble,  the  crip- 
pled minds  that  'just  think  on  their  own  hook.'  The  other 
kind  of  minds  do  some  work  when  they  think.  They  assemble 
from  among  the  mind-films  stored  in  their  minds'those  pictures 
that  have  a  bearing  on  the  matter  they  wish  to  decide  on, 
and  they  are  so  adroit  through  experience  that  they  can 
handle  with  ease  a  vast  number  of  pictures  at  once,  and  re- 
ject some  and  accept  some,  then  place  them  in  proper  juxta- 
position, and  presto,  they  come  to  a  conclusion  and  an  opin- 
ion that  is  worth  while.  And  such  minds  are  strong.  But 
all  this  is  real  hard  work." 

"But  what  is  the  use  of  sweating  and  working  just  for 
the  sake  of  a  different  way  of  thinking,  when  you  can  do 
thinking  anyway,  without  all  this  hard  work?" 

And  here  we  have  the  philosophy  of  the  tramp  and  the 
loafer,  who  believe  that  the  "world  owes  them  a  living", 
and  that  it  is  the  business  of  the  man  that  thinks  to  provide 
them  with  this  living,  and  no  wonder  that  they  often  find 
themselves  being  kicked  and  in  jail. 

So  then,  we  can  each  and  all  of  us  take  our  choice.  We 
can  start  down  as  low  as  the  level  of  the  tramp  and  loafer 
and  shirk  all  work  in  thinking,  or  we  can  just  do  a  little 
thinking  and  be  satisfied  with  a  subordinate  place,  or  we 
can  start  out  and  do  some  real  good  thinking,  even  if  it  is 
hard  work,  and  pull  ourselves  up  to  a  place  of  esteem  and 
service,  of  service  to  ourselves  and  to  others. 

Nor  need  this  labor  be  so  unattractive  as  it  may  seem  to 
be;   it  may  seem  hard  and  unattractive  at  the  start.    As 


312  DAVID  LUBIN 

the  work  goes  on  it  will  be  found  to  be  easier  and  easier, 
and  in  time  it  will  be  as  easy  for  the  real  thinker  to  think 
as  it  seems  to  be  for  the  loafer  not  to  do  so. 

Do  as  he  will,  the  poor  "slacker"  that  shirks  thinking  has 
a  whole  lot  to  be  sorry  for,  and  what  he  fails  to  do  by  real 
honest  labor  he  is  compelled  to  do  in  misfortunes,  per- 
plexities, and  sorrow.  So  we  can  all  see  how  important  it 
is  for  us  to  get  ourselves  accustomed  to  do  real  good  honest 
thinking. 

But  before  dismissing  the  subject  let  us  understand  that 
mere  storing  of  impressions  is  one  thing ;  to  do  thinking  as 
it  is  here  understood  is  quite  another.  Mere  lesson  learning 
is  not  the  end,  it  is  but  a  means.  Lesson  learning  is  but 
one  of  the  ways  of  storing  away  the  mind-films,  as  it  were ; 
but  the  work  of  generalizing  through  the  medium  of  these 
stored  mind-films  is  the  point ;  in  this  way  we  do  the  think- 
ing. 

So  then  it  is  first  of  all  storing  good  mind-films  constantly, 
and  as  constantly  assembling  these  mind-films  into  good  and 
useful  combinations,  and  by  combining  and  recombining 
them  to  arrive  at  conclusions  and  opinions,  and  to  reshape 
these  conclusions  and  opinions  as  we  go  along  in  the  upward, 
progressive  steps  of  this  work. 

This  will  make  us  strong. 

Affectionately, 

Papa. 

International  Institute  of  Agriculture, 
Rome,  July  19th,  1917. 

My  dear  Dorothy,  and 
My  dear  Gracie : 

I  am  reminded  by  the  last  letter  to  you  from  Mama  that 
I  may  have  been  derelict  in  not  having  sent  you  a  series  of 
letters  enjoining  a  certain  mode  of  conduct.  You  are  now 
growing  out  of  mere  childhood  and  entering  the  sphere  of 
young  womanhood.  And  it  would  seem  that  this  state  more 
than  any  other  requires  and  demands  injunctions  and  guid- 
ance.    Then  why  were  they  not  sent  on  ? 

As  you  proceed  with  your  studies  you  will  in  time,  no  doubt, 
perceive  the  difference  between  the  stand  of  the  Greek 


DAVID  LUBIN  AS  EDUCATOR  313 

philosophers  and  the  stand  of  the  Bible  heroes  on  the  nature 
of  God  and  the  nature  of  Man.  In  relation  to  God  the 
former  believed  in  the  eternity  of  matter  as  well  as  in  the 
eternity  of  the  Spirit,  whereas  the  latter  believed  in  the 
eternity  of  the  Spirit  only.  In  relation  to  Man  the  former 
believed  in  detenninism,  whereas  the  latter  believed  in  free 
will. 

In  opposing  the  Greek  stand  on  the  first  point  the  Bible 
heroes  reasoned  that  the  co-existence  of  any  two  eternals 
would  be  self-contradictory,  for  the  totality  of  such  two 
eternals  would  necessarily  be  one.  But  any  such  dual- 
mono-eternity  would  render  matter  a  necessary  and  deter- 
minate part  of  God,  which  theory  is  pantheistic  and  un- 
scriptural,  for  God  would  then  be  no  God  at  all.  Necessity 
would  then  be  ruler  of  both  Spirit  and  matter,  thus  narrow- 
ing all  things  within  the  bounds  of  determinism,  of  fatalism, 
and  of  pessimism.  The  pure  monotheism  of  the  Bible, 
however,  gives  us  the  eternal,  all-ruling,  all-pervading  free 
will,  God. 

But  it  is  with  the  second  point,  the  question  whether  man 
is  governed  by  determinism  or  by  free  will  that  we  are  con- 
cerned here. 

If  we  are  to  hold  by  determinism,  as  the  Greek  philosophers 
did,  there  would,  of  course,  be  no  use  for  injunctions  as  to 
what  is  already  determined.  In  fact,  under  such  a  con- 
dition the  very  injunctions  would  also  have  been  determined. 
We  should,  in  that  case,  be  as  pebbles  on  the  seashore  acted 
upon  by  the  waves ;  and  under  such  a  condition  I  would  have 
no  free-will  power  to  injoin,  nor  would  you  have  free-will 
power  to  act  upon  or  reject  such  injunctions. 

But  as  we  are  governed  by  free  will,  what  about  the  in- 
junctions ? 

Here  again  we  come  to  a  seeming  stop,  for  an  unqualified 
acceptance  of  such  injunctions  would  imply  determinism; 
your  actions  would  then  be  "determined"  by  my  injunctions, 
and  such  "determination"  would  be  opposed  to  free  will. 

Such  being  the  case  it  would  logically  follow  that  my 
service  in  the  premises  should  be  limited  to  bringing  out 
the  thoughts  latent  in  your  minds,  to  bringing  before  your 
mind's  eye  such  adjustments  and  readjustments  of  these 


314  DAVID  LUBIN 

thoughts  as  may  tend  to  produce  those  generalizations  and 
conclusions  which  will  aid  you  in  rejecting  any  feebler  opin- 
ions in  favor  of  the  stronger  and  the  better.  Hence  my 
letters  of  the  past,  as  well  as  this  present  one,  are  more  on  the 
lines  of  advice  and  reason  than  on  that  of  imperative  in- 
junctions. 

And  this  mode  of  procedure  is  in  line  with  what  Socrates 
teaches.  He  would  have  us  teach  as  if  it  were  a  "remem- 
bering" of  thought  already  in  our  mind.  The  thought  may 
be  latent ;  it  is  the  art  of  the  teacher  to  awaken  within  our 
minds  the  details  of  an  idea  already  there,  and  by  assembling 
these  details  in  various  juxtapositions  to  allow  the  pupil  to 
draw  the  logical  generalizations  and  deductions  therefrom 
which  should  crystallize  into  opinions,  opinions  which  should 
govern  conduct. 

Let  me  give  an  illustration.  Let  us  suppose  two  men, 
Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  and  Mr.  Jim  Burglar,  in  a  dimly  lighted 
room  filled  with  costly  objects.  Mr.  Burglar,  covetously 
eyeing  the  valuables,  is  prompted  to  say  to  his  neighbor, 
"Say,  Boss,  let  us  pack  up  a  lot  of  this  stuff  and  skip  away  by 
the  back  door." 

Now,  what  effect  would  this  have  on  Mr.  Spencer  ?  Would 
Mr.  Burglar  be  able  to  win  him  over  to  this  project  ?  You 
say,  "Certainly  not."  But  why  not?  Clearly  because  the 
thoughts  stored  in  Mr.  Spencer's  mind  do  not  respond  to 
Mr.  Burglar's  suggestion,  reasoning,  opinion,  or  conclusion. 
And  Mr.  Spencer  would  further  conclude  that  no  immediate 
argument  or  reasoning  other  than  a  show  of  sufficient  force, 
would  convince  Mr.  Burglar  that  his  proposal  was  a  bad  one. 

"But,"  you  say,  "this  is  determinism;  it  seems  to  knock 
down  the  whole  theory  of  free  will." 

So  it  does,  but  in  reality  it  is  a  strong  argument  for  free 
will.  It  teaches  that  our  choice  of  to-day,  our  free  will  of 
to-day,  determines  the  character  of  our  free  will  of  to-morrow. 
In  that  way  each  person  is  said  to  be  the  "architect  of 
his  own  fortunes."  More  than  that,  not  merely  of  his 
own  fortunes  but  of  his  own  soul.  And  this  is  the  first  and 
principal  lesson  that  each  student  should  learn  and  master. 
If  you  have  learnt  this  you  have  learnt  much,  and  are  on  the 
road  to  learn  much  more. 


DAVID  LUBIN  AS  EDUCATOR  315 

It  would  then  be  unnecessary  to  enjoin  on  you  the  caution 
to  be  observed  in  the  selection  of  your  friends,  and  how  to 
avoid  making  enemies.  You  would  not  have  to  be  enjoined 
that  it  is  hazardous  in  the  extreme  to  accept  random  in- 
vitations to  theatres,  to  teas,  or  to  meals,  especially  from 
male  strangers,  or  to  countenance  a  random  show  of  friendli- 
ness by  designed  or  undesigned  chance  approaches.  You 
will  then  intuitively  know  all  the  dangers  attending  this; 
and  you  will  be  as  free  from  the  dangers  of  this  sort  of  con- 
tagion as  Mr.  Spencer  would  be  from  the  influences  of  Mr. 
Burglar. 

All  this,  you  may  see,  demands  not  merely  intuition  but 
strength  of  character,  force  of  will,  and,  when  required, 
instantaneous  decision.  So  much  for  avoiding  evil.  But 
this  in  itself  does  not  constitute  all  that  goes  to  make  a  lady. 
Here  the  graces  are  wanted  as  well  as  the  virtues,  and  with 
these  service,  and  again  service,  and  again  service. 

And  now  let  me  hear  from  you  both  on  this  subject.  Have 
your  say,  give  and  take,  pro  and  con,  all  purely  on  the  line 
of  free  will,  when  some  day  we  may  have  the  matter  up 
again. 

Affectionately, 
Papa. 

And  here  he  is  in  a  lighter  vein : 

My  dear  Dorothy,  and 
My  dear  Gracie,  and 
My  dear  Teddy : 

It  frequently  feels  as  if  we  had  you  all  with  us  here,  and 
we  wish  it  were  so.  The  other  evening  found  me  reviewing 
a  number  of  Mother  Goose  songs,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that 
you  were  all  here,  with  Teddy  on  my  lap,  and  Gracie  on 
one  side  and  Dorothy  on  the  other,  just  as  it  used  to  be  when 
you  were  "wee"  little  folks.  And  then  I  started  in  on  my 
high  notes  with  "There  was  a  man  in  our  Town  who  was 
wondrous  wondrous  wise",  but  what  was  my  surprise  when 
I  was  invited  to  postpone  the  rest  until  I  had  sent  my  notes 
to  the  blacksmith's  to  be  sharpened  a  little.  .  .  . 

We  have  our  "meatless  days"  regularly,  and  as  we  are 
something  of  philosophers,  we  take  things  as  they  come,  so 


316  DAVID  LUBIN 

we  take  macaroni  d,  la  gratin,  or  spaghetti  a  la  neapolitaine,  or 
beets,  or  anything  we  can  get.  Mama  says  it  is  good  as 
"dieting"  and  so  we  are  all  getting  very  healthy.  It  has 
gotten  down  to  matches,  and  matches  are  matches  now-a- 
days,  and  so  is  writing  paper  at  the  Hotel  where  not  a  sheet 
can  be  had  without  an  aristocratic  price.  But  then,  it's 
no  better  in  England,  as  Teddy  perhaps  knows.  .  .  . 

We  nearly  had  a  smelling  match,  Mama  and  I,  of  the 
fern  and  pine  sprig,  and  it  reminded  us  of  New  England,  which 
Mama  no  doubt  thinks  belongs  to  Old  England.  But  when 
we  get  ready  to  annex  that  Island,  Mama  will  then  see  the 
error  of  her  way.  .  .  . 

Dorothy  dear,  I  think  that  you  should  rather  get  some 
suitable  piece  of  jewelry  with  the  money  we  sent  you  for 
that  purpose.  While  I  would  not  care  to  see  you  or  Grace 
behung  with  jewels,  it  is  just  as  bad  taste  to  be  too  bare  of 
any.  Too  bare  of  any  would  make  you  as  conspicuous  as 
too  many,  so  follow  Confucius  and  adopt  the  "happy  me- 
dium." ... 

Then  there  comes  Teddy  with  the  announcement  that 
he  was  in  a  "Hydro."  When  I  first  read  his  statement  that 
he  was  stopping  at  a  "Hydro"  I  was  somewhat  alarmed,  for 
I  had  an  idea  that  a  hydro  was  a  sort  of  "home"  for  gouty 
people,  or  rheumatics,  people  that  wallowed  around  in  wet 
sheets,  groaning  and  moaning.  So  I  looked  up  the  diction- 
ary, but  the  nearest  word  to  it  is  "hydra",  but  that  is  a 
"water  serpent."  However,  on  reading  further  I  find  (on 
generalizing)  that  a  "hydro"  is  no  longer  a  "hydro"  but  it 
is  a  sort  of  jolly  semi-hotel  boarding  house.  And  that  there 
are  ever  so  many  appliances  for  having  fun.  Accordingly  I 
am,  as  the  Britishers  say,  'appy ! ! ! 

Lovingly, 

Papa, 

Rome,  December  2nd,  1917. 

.  .  .  Before  taking  up  your  dear  letters  (Dorothy  and 
Grade)  let  me  jot  down  a  paragraph  or  two  on  the  subject 
of  determinism  and  free  will.  It  is  a  theme  well  worth  your 
while,  for  in  the  first  place,  you  will  soon  have  it  directly  in 


*         DAVID  LUBIN  AS  EDUCATOR  317 

your  studies,  and  indirectly  throughout  life's  experience. 
"When  a  little  boy,  my  mother  taught  me  on  the  subject  in 
the  striking  and  peculiar  manner  customary  to  the  "  Mother- 
in-Israel",  as  mothers  of  standing  among  orthodox  Jews  were 
designated  at  the  time  when  I  was  a  boy.  This  was  her 
lesson. 

"When  a  boy  goes  to  sleep  (or  girl),  and  after  they  are 
soundly  sleeping,  the  Angel  Michael  conducts  the  soul  of 
that  child  to  Heaven  and  to  its  Record  Room.  In  that  room 
there  are  heavy  silk  curtains,  which  cover  the  walls,  and  the 
room  is  lit  by  a  tiny  but  incandescent  light  above  a  desk 
on  which  are  two  books,  with  their  pages  open.  The  Angel, 
pointing  to  these  books,  says:  'See,  child,  here  are  the  two 
books  of  Record.  One  is  the  Book  of  Life,  the  other  is  the 
Book  of  Death.  The  first  is  the  golden  book  of  Love,  the 
other  is  the  leaden  book  of  Hate.  And  now  it  is  time  to 
record  your  actions  of  to-day,  so  give  me  your  hand.* 
Then  the  Angel  takes  the  child's  little  finger  and  records  his 
deeds  of  the  day.  The  deeds  of  love  and  right  in  the  book 
of  Life,  and  the  deeds  of  hate  and  falsehood  in  the  book  of 
Death.  After  which  the  Angel  accompanies  the  soul  back 
to  the  body  and  then  departs.  And  this  the  Angel  does  all 
the  days  of  the  child's  life  until  the  child  has  grown  into  an 
aged  person,  and  until  the  last  day  of  earthly  life.  And  after 
life,  when  the  soul  stands  before  the  Supreme  Judge,  the 
pages  from  the  Book  of  Life  and  those  of  the  Book  of  Death 
are  detached  from  their  books  and  placed  upon  a  scale; 
on  the  right  side  the  pages  from  the  Book  of  Life,  on  the 
left  side  those  of  the  Book  of  Death.  And  then  comes  the 
sentence." 

I  think  you  will  see  quite  clearly  that  through  the  dis- 
guise of  a  simple  and  pleasing  story  a  great  truth  was  in- 
tended to  be  conveyed.  Each  act  was  recorded  and  re- 
mained recorded  until  the  Day  of  Judgment.  At  that  time 
the  good  and  bad  were  weighed  in  the  scale,  and  the  pre- 
dominance of  the  one  side  or  the  other  led  to  Life  or  to 
Death. 

This  is  the  story  of  determinism,  but  the  **  incandescent 
light "  in  the  "  Recording  Room  "  is  the  spiritual  will,  which 
is  our  "  free  will ",  to  be  exerted  just  at  the  opportune  time, 


318  DAVID  LUBIN 

which,  when  strong  enough,  has  the  power  to  set  the  "de- 
termined" aside.     And  this  Light  is  within  us. 

I  do  not  of  course  expect  my  dear  Httle  girls  to  understand 
all  about  determinism  and  free  will,  since  there  are  many 
great,  big,  learned  men  that  do  not  understand  it.  But  I 
do  think  that  you  two  girls  have  as  good  a  grasp  of  some  of 
the  rudiments  of  this  subject  as  the  average  girl  students 
(Fresh-men ! !)  of  course,  and  perhaps  more  so.  And  that 
is  something  to  be  proud  of. 

And  now  to  the  pleasing  task  of  commenting  on  your 
dear  letters.  To  me  and  to  Mama  your  sweet  letters  were 
as  a  rich  bunch  of  precious  flowers.  There  you  were  with 
your  cap  and  gown,  a-marching  in  solemn  procession,  and 
when  we  came  to  the  song  part  we  both  felt  like  joining  in 
with  a  hearty,  "Three  cheers  for  Bryn  Mawr  College; 
three  cheers  for  our  dear  girlies ;  and  three  cheers  for  Jane 
Latimer,  and  three  cheers  for  Lois  Parsons  ! ! ! !  Rah ! ! 
Rah!!  Tiger!!" 
.    With  an  awfully  tight  hug  and  a  dozen  kisses. 

Affectionately, 
Papa. 

Writing  to  the  children  on  the  subject  of  their  excellent 
college  reports,  he  says  : 

The  mistake  is  that  one  takes  reports  as  the  end,  whereas 
they  are  a  means.  And  as  a  means  it  may  happen  that 
the  study  may  have  served  to  a  greater  purpose  by  the  stu- 
dent receiving  the  dull  report  than  by  the  student  receiving 
the  high  report.  .  .  .  The  primary  thing  is  not  how  to 
work  out  a  high  report  for  the  sake  of  obtaining  the  high 
report,  but  the  primary  thing  is  to  study  so  as  to  render  the 
spirit  nobler.  Let  me  try  to  make  clear  what  I  mean  by  an 
illustration. 

Let  us  compare  the  spirit  of  man  to  a  jar  of  mixed  chem- 
icals. On  the  table  there  is  an  empty  jar  into  which  pour 
some  quantity  of  chemicals  from  among  the  thousands  of 
different  chemicals  before  it,  then  stir,  heat  or  cool  the  mix- 
ture, and  what  have  you  as  a  result  ? 

The  jar  may  be  compared  to  the  circumference  of  the 


DAVID  LUBIN  AS  EDUCATOR  319 

soul,  and  the  chemicals  to  the  ideas  which  are  taken  in. 
But  the  question  is,  what  kind  of  ideas  were  taken  in,  how 
were  they  assimilated,  and  what  was  the  effect  of  the  assimi- 
lation on  the  soul  in  its  totality  ? 

If  we  could  see  the  operation  of  the  soul  in  all  this  we 
would  witness  one  of  the  most  wonderful  phenomena  in  the 
psychic  domain  of  the  universe.  It  is  God  alone  who  under- 
stands this  as  it  really  is,  but  it  is  sufficient  for  our  under- 
standing if  we  can  make  use  of  our  imagination  in  the  en- 
deavor to  grasp  the  idea  through  symbols,  more  or  less 
artistic  and  rational.  .  .  . 

Now,  what  the  General  is  to  the  soldiers,  the  "Will"  is 
to  the  individual,  and  the  will  is  known  under  the  terms  of 
"Spirit",  "Soul."  Now,  this  Spirit,  Soul,  or  Will  is  the  top 
force  of  all  our  stored-up  thoughts,  and  we  have  no  right  to 
expect  a  better  "General"  to  will  for  us  than  the  mass  of 
thought-stuff  we  have  stored  in  the  mind.  Nor  is  this  all; 
for  we  may  have  a  goodly  quantity  of  first  class  foodstuff,  but 
it  has  not  been  digested,  and  it  just  lays  there  subjecting  us 
to  spirit  ache,  to  soul  ache,  or  to  will  ache,  just  as  unas- 
sirailated  or  undigested  food  gives  rise  to  stomach  ache  or 
indigestion. 

And  from  all  this,  my  dear  children,  you  will  see  that  a 
mere  high  report  is  by  no  means  the  highest  evidence  of 
learning,  but  it  is,  of  course,  evidence.  The  highest  use  of 
learning  is  not  merely  to  take  in  new  formulas  and  ideas  but 
to  assimilate  them  with  the  ideas  already  there,  and  to  adjust 
our  ideas  constantly  to  the  varying  standard  which  the  higher 
process  of  thought  will  admit. 

All  this  involves  labor,  and  labor  means  effort,  and 
thought-effort  requires  as  much  exertion  as  labor  at  the  bench 
or  in  the  ditch,  and  your  ease-loving  party  would  not  care 
to  lower  themselves  to  labor,  and  they  mean  to  be  Ladies 
and  Gentleman  without  this  trouble.  Well,  may  be  they 
are  right,  may  be  they  are  wrong.     What  do  you  think  ? 

He  never  tired  of  impressing  on  the  children  his  belief 
that  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  is  not  an  end  in  itself,  but  a 
means  to  an  end.  "The  constant  use  of  the  hammer  by  the 
blacksmith  gives  his  right  arm  great  power,"  he  writes  in  one 


S20  DAVID  LUBESr 

of  his  fortnightly  chats.  "This  power  comes  by  degrees,  and 
in  proportion  to  the  uses  the  arm  is  put  to.  And  so  with  the 
mind.  We  can  make  a  normal  mind  strong  by  exercise 
as  well  as  we  make  the  body  strong  by  physical  exercise. 
And  the  best  manner  of  exercising  the  mind  is  by  criticising. 
Any  mere  storing  of  the  mind  with  facts  is  for  the  purpose  of 
laying  in  a  supply  of  raw  material,  so  that  we  have  the  stuff 
to  employ  in  the  act  of  criticising.  Taking  in  facts  without 
employing  them  in  criticism  is  as  useless  toward  gaining 
strength  as  eating  but  not  digesting." 

Build  up  a  strong  body  by  exercise,  a  strong  mind  by  de- 
bate and  criticism,  store  that  mind  with  well-digested  facts 
acquired  from  books  and  from  travel,  experience  and  ob- 
servation, use  those  facts  as  the  basis  for  generalization, 
and  have  as  the  goal  of  all  this  effort  Service  —  and  you  will 
have  the  men  and  women  required  for  successful  Democ- 
racy. Lubin  believed  that  in  a  degree  each  and  every 
human  being  was  capable  of  development  along  these  lines, 
that  direct  observation  from  facts  was  just  as  good  a  school 
as  the  University,  so  long  as  the  mind  had  been  trained  to 
think.  I  have  often  heard  him  attribute  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  Jews  from  Eastern  Europe  make  their  way 
to  success,  when  they  once  get  into  the  favoring  environment 
of  more  enlightened  countries,  to  the  training  in  debate  and 
criticism  which  they  receive  in  the  beth-medrash,  even  though 
the  textbook  be  nothing  more  modern  than  that  strange 
medley  of  medieval  Jewish  lore,  the  Talmud. 

The  following  letter,  the  last  I  will  quote,  is  an  epitome  of 
many  of  David  Lubin's  views  on  education. 

Hotel  de  Russie,  Rome,  February  24th,  1918. 

My  dear  Dorothy,  and 
My  dear  Gracie,  and 
My  dear  Teddy : 

Here  we  are  assembled  again  for  our  fortnightly  chat, 
and  it  almost  seemed  to  me  as  if  it  were  in  days  gone  by, 
when  we  had  our  memorable  talks.     I  wonder  whether  you 


DAVID  LUBIN  AS  EDUCATOR  321 

remember  them?  But  of  course  you  do,  for  some  of  our 
debates  were  no  doubt  so  impressed  upon  your  minds  that 
they  have  helped  to  shape  the  trend  of  your  thoughts. 

Do  you  remember  Dorothy,  with  her  hat  on  the  floor, 
ready  to  receive  her  ten  centimes  for  a  near  approach  toward 
the  goal  intended  to  be  reached  by  our  debate  ?  And  Gracie, 
how  full  of  alacrity  in  reaching  out  her  hand  for  the  prize 
as  soon  as  she  saw  indications  on  my  face  that  she  had  made 
**  a  hit  ?  "  And  as  for  Teddy,  he  seemed  at  times  to  be  super- 
ciliously indifferent  to  the  whole  proceeding,  as  if  it  were 
beneath  his  cultured  dignity  to  take  such  matters  seriously, 
but  now  and  then,  to  vary  his  bearing  by  an  electric  jump, 
as  it  were,  blurt  out  an  answer,  and  just  reach  out  his  hand  for 
the  prize,  which  he  seemed  sure  he  could  easily  have  by  the 
slightest  mental  effort  of  his  superior  mind. 

But  what  then;  this  is  just  about  the  way  all  boys  act 
when  in  mental  competition  with  girls.  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  I  was  an  exception  to  the  rule  when  I  was  a  boy ; 
but  then,  this  is  excusable,  since  I  do  not  remember  having 
been  placed  in  such  competitive  juxtaposition. 

I  am  glad,  my  dear  Teddy,  to  note  from  your  letter  of  the 
10th  that  you  are  now  using  your  "dictionary  much  more 
than  before",  and  I  hope  that  you  will  continue  to  do  so. 
You  will  find,  on  the  line  of  my  former  letter,  that  all  study 
is  definition,  which  can  be  divided  into  two  divisions :  the 
definition  of  a  word  and  the  definition  of  an  idea.  For  the 
word  we  go  to  the  dictionary,  for  the  idea  we  go  to  other 
ideas  that  have  a  bearing  on  the  subject  before  us.  This 
second  is  generalization. 

And  what  is  generalization  ?  It  is  a  marshalling  of  ideas 
stored  in  the  mind.  Thus  we  see  that  each  person,  so  far 
as  ideas  are  concerned,  is  a  dictionary  to  himself,  defining 
whatever  he  defines  through  his  own  dictionary,  which  is 
part  of  himself.     In  fact,  it  is  his  very  own  self. 

So  then,  study  is  for  the  purpose  of  making  one's  self  a 
dictionary  which  is  to  serve  for  all  purposes  of  life.  And 
mark,  if  this  "dictionary"  is  a  poor  one,  it  must  be  a  foregone 
conclusion  that  our  ideas  are  going  to  be  poor.  But  suppos- 
ing it  is  a  good  one  ?  Ah,  that  is  the  point !  And  the  next 
one  is,  what  degree  of  good  ?    Clearly,  if  very  good  the  per- 


322  DAVID  LUBIN 

son  will  be  very  good  and  great,  and  all  that,  until  we  reach 
the  superlative,  right  up  to  Moses,  Plato,  Isaiah,  Jesus, 
Socrates,  Confucius,  and  Sakya  Muni. 

And  so,  we  see,  we  have  it  in  our  power  to  build  ourselves 
on  a  high  plane  if  we  convert  ourselves  into  our  very  own 
dictionary  on  the  highest  plane  possible.  But  in  all  this 
there  is  much  to  be  gained  by  the  habit  of  constant  reference 
to  the  dictionary  that  Teddy  refers  to. 

.  .  .  Some  people  appear  to  doubt  prophecy,  saying  that 
there  is  no  prophecy,  but  then,  I  can  show  you  that  there  is, 
for  I  can  give  you  a  concrete  example  of  it,  and  in  a  manner 
that  you  can  test  by  yourselves. 

Says  "A"  :  "I  want  to  be  happy;  I  want  the  love  and 
the  respect  of  all  the  people  in  my  environment,  at  least  of 
those  in  it  whose  love  I  crave."  And  how  is  he  to  get  it.f^ 
And  now  prophecy !  Are  there  terms  and  conditions  under 
which  you  can  have  that  love,  or  can  it  be  had  by  a  wave 
of  the  hand,  because  you  want  it?  There  are  terms  and 
conditions,  otherwise  people  could  compel  me  to  love  them 
whether  I  would  care  to  do  so  or  not. 

Do  you  or  can  you  love  persons  whether  you  care  to  do  so 
or  not  ?     No,  certainly  not. 

Whom  do  you  love?  Persons  who  seem  lovable  to  you, 
persons  that  serve  you  or  that  you  wish  should  serve  you. 
Could  you  love  any  that  would  neither  serve  you  nor  wish 
to  serve  you?  No;  therefore  it  follows  that  others  could 
not  love  you  whom  you  did  not  serve  or  did  not  wish  to 
serve.     And  this  is  one  prophecy. 

What  must  you  do  to  win  the  love  of  those  persons  whom 
you  wish  should  love  you  ?  You  must  be  of  service  to  them. 
And  this  is  the  second  prophecy. 

Supposing  that  you  neither  serve  other  persons  nor  care 
to  serve  them,  could  you  expect  to  be  happy?  No.  And 
this  is  the  third  prophecy. 

Does  this  law  apply  to  individuals  only?  No,  it  applies 
to  nations  and  peoples  as  well.  That  is  the  reason  why  I, 
as  an  individual,  work  for  the  happiness  of  the  world,  in 
order  that  the  world  may  learn  presently  to  love  Israel. 

Try  as  I  would,  however,  I  cannot  serve  to  higher  purpose 
than  my  very  own  dictionary  will  permit  me,  but  if  I  employ 
that  to  its  highest  possibility,  then  I  may  make  a  very  modest 


DAVID  LUBIN  AS  EDUCATOR  323 

stock  of  ability  go  a  very  great  distance  to  accomplish  much 
more  than  others  with  greater  store  of  ideas  but  with  lesser 
endeavor  of  accomplishment. 

But  why  all  this  effort?  Because  I  wish  to  win  the  love 
of  the  gentiles  for  the  House  of  Israel. 

But  has  not  Israel  of  old  done  ever  so  much  service  to 
the  gentiles  of  the  world  through  Israel's  Bible.''  Why, 
then,  all  this  base  return  to  the  Jew  by  the  nations  for  this 
great  service  ? 

But  Israel  has  had  his  equivalent  return,  since  all  the  world 
has  adopted  nearly  all  his  teachings  and  presently  he  will 
purify  it  all  of  its  pagan  admixture.  And  as  to  Israel's 
seeming  suffering  as  a  result  of  a  labor  of  love,  —  the  suffer- 
ing is  not  nearly  as  harrowing  as  it  seems  to  be.  How  is 
that?  You  know  that  Socrates  and  Plato  and  the  Sages 
of  Israel  teach  that  the  only  real  suffering  is  that  which 
each  individual  brings  on  himself  by  his  own  actions,  not 
by  what  any  one  else  does  to  him.  They  taught  that  it  is 
the  persecutor  that  suffers,  not  the  persecuted.  I 

This  seems  a  hard  point  to  grasp,  but  after  you  give  it  time, 
and  think  the  matter  over,  you  will  see  that  this  is  correct. 

And  now  I  am  very  much  pleased  that  Teddy  took  for 
his  own  the  nineteenth  Psalm,  and  is  to  memorize  it.  And 
Gracie  also  took  the  19th  and  the  23rd  and  the  123rd  ;  but  no 
one  has  yet  taken  the  104th,  a  most  noble  psalm.  I  am  still  to 
hear  from  Dorothy  as  to  her  choice.  Perhaps  she  has  made 
it  and  given  the  announcement  in  one  of  her  former  letters. 

And  while  on  this  point,  you,  dear  children,  know  that  it 
is  very  hard  for  me  to  write  by  pen  on  account  of  cramp  in 
the  wrist,  and  so  I  use  the  typewriter  machine,  but  this  is 
slow  work  for  me.  It  takes  some  several  hours  for  me  to 
write  a  letter  like  this,  and  Sunday  is  about  the  only  day  in 
the  week  that  I  allow  myself  any  time  off  from  my  regular 
work.  So  I  have  but  little  time  to  go  over  your  letters  in 
detail.  I  have  been  thinking  that  it  would  be  convenient 
if  you  could  underscore  in  ink  each  line  of  the  letters  you 
send  on  that  you  would  care  to  have  me  see  or  comment.  .  .  . 

Mama  and  I  could  well  wish  that  each  and  every  one  of 
our  dear  ones  were  here,  when  we  could  be  so  very  happy  to 
clasp  them  to  our  hearts.     God  bless  each  and  all  of  you. 

Affectionately,        Papa. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  GRKA.T  WAR  AND  THE  GREAT  PEACE 

We  have  followed  David  Lubin  nearly  to  the  close  of  his 
life  adventure,  which  was  to  end  when,  with  the  termination 
of  the  great  war,  the  curtain  was  rung  down  on  an  era  in 
human  history.  This  indefatigable  worker  in  the  cause  of 
international  justice  was  to  pass  the  last  four  years  of  his 
life  in  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  and  die  as  peace  dawned. 
But  the  unconquerable  optimism  which  enabled  his  ancestors 
of  old  to  stand  the  test  of  persecution,  proclaiming  to  the 
end  that  "God  is  Just",  enabled  Lubin  to  keep  his  bearings 
amid  the  wreckage  of  high  hopes  and  dreams. 

As  we  have  seen,  Lubin  was  in  Washington  when  the 
war  broke  out.  The  echo  of  the  terrible  events  necessarily 
reached  him  somewhat  attenuated  by  distance,  yet  for  all 
that  it  was  overpowering.  But  it  only  strengthened  in  him 
the  conviction  that  if  civilization  were  to  endure  it  must 
be  along  the  very  lines  of  economic  organization  on  a  world- 
wide scale  for  which  the  International  Institute  of  Agri- 
culture stood.  At  this  crisis  his  faculty  for  intense  concen- 
tration on  the  work  in  hand  stood  him  in  good  stead. 

Whatever  occurred,  the  world  must  be  fed  and  clothed, 
and  to  do  this  under  war  conditions  implied  forethought, 
organization,  and  a  husbanding  of  resources  on  a  scale  hither- 
to undreamt  of.  A  prerequisite  for  this  was  knowledge: 
knowledge  of  the  available  and  prospective  supplies  and  of 
the  means  of  increasing  them,  knowledge  of  all  the  factors 
determining  price  and  the  possibilities  of  carriage,  knowledge 
of  the  demand  and  of  the  means  of  meeting  it  with  the 
least  possible  waste  through  ignorance  and  unnecessary 
friction.    And  this  was  the  very  knowledge  which  the  Inter- 


WAR  AND  PEACE  S25 

national  Institute  of  Agriculture  had  been  created  to  supply. 
Would  the  Institute  survive  the  shock  of  war,  or,  where  so 
much  else  was  perishing,  would  it  not  also  shipwreck  ? 
On  August  17,  1914,  he  wrote  me  from  Washington : 

And  now  in  this  trying  time  in  the  life  of  the  Institute, 
what  is  to  be  done?  "Nothing,"  says  the  jackass;  "let 
us  wait  until  the  war  is  over  and  then  when  the  'stuff'  comes 
in  we  will  publish  it."  And  if  I  had  my  way  I  should  just 
grab  such  jackasses  by  the  nape  of  the  neck  and  kick  them 
right  into  a  bootblack  stand,  and  compel  them  to  black 
boots  for  a  living.  Such  heroes  do  not  belong  to  the  In- 
stitute; they  are  parasites  pure  and  simple.  There  is  as 
much  opportunity  to  do  real  valuable  service  right  now  during 
the  time  of  war  as  at  any  other  time.  The  question  is  upon 
the  exertion  of  the  mind  and  the  genius  to  see  what  ought  to 
be  done.  Well,  I  feel  almost  certain  that  you  for  one  will 
not  have  to  wait  to  be  told  before  you  will  know.  You  will 
know,  and  perhaps  some  of  the  others  may  know.  Let  us 
see! 

And  he  saw.  Far  from  falling  asunder,  the  Institute  stood 
this  trial  by  fire  and  came  out  of  the  ordeal  strengthened. 

Indeed,  the  terrible  events  of  the  next  four  years  were  to 
emphasize  the  vital  importance  of  Lubin's  contention.  The 
need  for  rapid,  regular,  reUable  information  on  supplies 
was  brought  home  so  forcibly  to  all  that  it  is  difficult  now 
to  believe  it  could  ever  have  been  sneered  at.  As  the  months 
went  by  and  the  situation  grew  ever  graver,  with  one  half 
of  the  world  threatened  with  starvation  and  the  other  half 
striving  to  meet  the  deficit,  the  importance  of  the  statistical 
organization  which  the  Institute  had  induced  the  nations 
to  build  up  or  perfect,  each  for  itself,  completing  it  by  its 
own  work  in  assembling,  coordinating,  and  summarizing, 
won  the  recognition  of  governments.  It  came  to  be  of  vital 
assistance  to  the  food  controllers  of  the  several  countries  in 
their  Herculean  task.  It  emphasized  amidst  the  "  alarums 
and  excursions  of  war"  the  essential  solidarity  of  the  nations 
of  the  world. 


326  DAVID  LUBIN 

This  was  the  immediate  service  to  which  Lubin  devoted 
all  his  energies,  and  —  as  we  saw  when  reviewing  the  Amer- 
ican side  of  his  labors  —  he  did  all  in  his  power  to  supplement 
the  work  of  the  Institute  by  national  measures  to  assist  the 
American  farmer  in  doing  his  share  to  feed  the  world.  An 
article  on  "Food  Control  and  Democracy"  which  he  con- 
tributed to  the  Atlantic  Monthly  (August,  1917)  states  his 
position  on  this  whole  question,  while  the  columns  of  the 
American  press  of  those  years  bear  eloquent  witness  to  the 
active  part  he  played  in  calling  attention  to  the  Institute's 
data  forecasting  the  imminence  of  a  great  food  shortage. 

But  a  mind  so  speculative,  so  prompt  to  generalize  as 
Lubin's  could  not  fail  to  react  powerfully  in  more  directions 
than  one  to  such  a  stimulus  as  the  world  war. 

Taken  unawares,  scarcely  able  to  credit  the  events  of  the 
first  months  of  the  great  struggle,  Lubin  concentrated  at 
first  on  the  immediate  duty  of  the  hour.  President  Wilson 
had  enjoined  on  all  Americans  strict  neutrality ;  he  was  not 
only  an  American  but  one  holding  an  official  position  in  an 
international  institute  on  which  all  the  belligerents  sat  as 
members. 

On  his  return  to  Rome  in  December,  1914,  he  took  an 
active  part  in  the  labors  of  the  Permanent  Committee; 
placed  before  it  the  Congressional  Resolution  on  his  ocean 
freight-rate  proposal,  got  the  action  endorsed,  and  the  ques- 
tion placed  on  the  order  of  the  day  for  the  next  General 
Assembly  of  the  Institute.  But  when  would  that  be  ?  The 
Committee  met  regularly;  the  delegates  of  Germany, 
Austria,  Hungary,  Turkey,  were  still  active  members.  The 
contagion  of  politics  had  never  tainted  the  work  of  the  In- 
stitute ;  proof  positive  of  this  was  afforded  by  the  fact  that 
even  in  those  tragic  hours  French  and  English  and  Germans 
and  Russians  and  Belgians  could  sit  on  the  same  committees 
within  its  walls  and  discuss  the  best  way  of  drawing  up  a 
half-yearly  world  balance-sheet  of  supply  and  demand  of 
the  cereal  crops,  one  of  the  useful  developments  of  the  work 
elaborated  to  meet  the  crying  needs  of  the  hour  in  the  spring 


WAR  AND  PEACE  827 

of  1915.  Yet  the  war  had  hit  the  Institute  hard ;  its  staflF 
had  been  depleted  by  mobilization.  When  hostilities  were 
declared  French,  Germans,  Austrians,  Belgians  had  met  to- 
gether for  a  last  time  under  the  clear  skies  of  Rome,  had 
raised  their  glasses  to  the  future  of  peace  and  amity  and 
cooperation  for  which  they  had  worked  in  the  Institute, 
and  had  left  for  the  irrespective  armies.  The  English  and 
Italians  were  to  follow  a  few  months  later,  leaving  the  few 
not  fit  for  service  at  the  front  to  "carry  on." 

During  the  winter  and  spring  of  1914-1915  Lubin  saw  the 
Italian  people  gradually  unraveling  the  tangled  skeins  of 
diplomacy  and  treaty  obligations,  and  preparing  to  throw 
its  weight  into  the  scale.  He  lived  through  those  critical 
days  of  May,  1915,  when  all  over  Italy  the  people  rose  as  one 
man  to  proclaim  its  solidarity  with  Right  against  Might, 
and  to  demand  of  its  government  a  declaration  of  war.  He 
was  in  Rome  when  the  news  came  that  the  Lusitania  had 
been  sunk,  and  never  doubted  that  the  outrage  would  be 
followed  by  immediate  hostilities  with  the  United  States. 
His  expectations  were  disappointed;  oflScial  neutrality  had 
still  to  be  observed,  but  the  inner  significance  of  the  great 
struggle  had  now  grown  clear  to  him. 

In  those  radiant  evenings  of  late  spring  David  Lubin, 
worn  with  the  strain  of  the  great  issues  at  stake,  would  often 
drive  with  me  for  an  hour  or  so  on  leaving  the  Institute  in 
the  gardens  of  Villa  Borghese  or  along  the  banks  of  the  Tiber. 
The  stillness  and  serenity  of  the  sunset  hour  was  strangely 
in  contrast  with  the  tumult  of  alternate  hopes  and  fears  in 
which  all  lived,  with  the  passion  of  the  Italian  people  strain- 
ing to  break  loose  from  considerations  of  prudence  and  selfish 
ease  and  fling  themselves  into  the  sacrificial  fire.  Yet  Lubin 
would  talk  during  those  drives,  not  of  the  tragic  events  of 
the  day  —  proclaimed  from  every  news-stand  and  forming 
the  subject  of  every  conversation  —  but,  looking  through 
the  transient  to  the  eternal,  to  the  great  fundamental  prin- 
ciples which  underlay  these  phenomena,  he  would  merge  the 
particular  in  the  general,  and  the  tragedy  enacted  around 


328  DAVID   LUBIN 

him  would  appear  but  as  an  act  in  the  great  world  drama 
which  started  with  the  dawn  of  history. 

Again  as  in  the  days  when  he  wrote  "Let  There  Be  Light" 
he  felt  the  all-important  thing  to  be  the  ideas  behind  actions, 
the  cause  leading  to  the  effect.  Was  not  the  struggle  then 
being  fought  out  on  the  blood-soaked  fields  of  France  and 
Flanders  and  Italy  and  Poland  the  result  of  the  impact 
between  two  conflicting  principles,  two  opposite  modes  of 
thought  ? 

He  saw  it  not  as  a  war  waged  by  Germany  on  France 
and  England  but  as  a  struggle  between  the  conflicting 
principles  of  autocracy  and  democracy. 

On  his  return  from  the  United  States  in  November,  1916, 
it  was  this  aspect  of  the  question  which  most  impressed  him, 
and  he  was  quick  to  see  the  possible  outcome.  The  democ- 
racies had  been  forced  into  a  defensive  alliance,  aligned 
against  the  autocracies;  the  United  States  had  not  yet 
joined,  but  every  day  made  it  clearer  that  their  entry  into 
the  war  could  not  be  long  delayed.  Organized  effort  on  an 
international  scale  both  for  armaments  and  supplies  had  been 
the  inevitable  outgrowth  of  the  alliance.  Why,  with  the  ad- 
vent of  peace,  should  not  the  alliance  develop  into  a  perma- 
nent Confederation  ?  The  idea  of  a  Commonwealth  of  Na- 
tions, which  had  looked  visionary  when  he  wrote  of  it  in  1911, 
seemed  almost  within  the  field  of  practical  politics  in  1917. 

Lubin  elaborated  these  ideas  in  dialogue  form  in  a  pam- 
phlet entitled  "An  International  Confederation  of  Democra- 
cies under  a  Constitution",  of  which  he  printed  and  distrib- 
uted some  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  copies,  and  of  which 
editions  appeared  in  Chinese,  in  French,  and  in  Italian. 

In  this  pamphlet  he  claimed  that  the  old  pre-war  cry  of 
the  pacifists  for  disarmament  offered  no  solution ;  armaments 
are  not  a  cause  but  an  effect,  an  effect  of  a  state  of  mind  rep- 
resented by  autocratic  governments.  Such  fundamentally 
incongruous  forces  as  democracies  and  autocracies  he  held 
could  never  be  lastingly  welded  together  under  treaties  for 
disarmament. 


WAR  AND  PEACE  329 

Speaking  through  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  persons  in  the 
dialogue,  Lubin  outlines  his  proposed  mode  of  procedure : 

White :  As  I  see  it  now  I  would  say  that  the  first  thing 
to  be  done  at  the  close  of  the  present  war  will  be  to  issue  a 
call  for  an  international  convention  of  the  democracies,  for 
the  purpose  of  drawing  up  a  constitution  for  an  international 
confederation. 

Smith :  Why  an  international  constitution  ?  Do  you 
mean  a  treaty  ? 

White :  No,  I  do  not  mean  a  treaty,  I  mean  a  constitution 
—  a  constitution  voted  on  by  the  people  and  ratified  by  the 
government  of  an  adhering  nation  would  be  more  binding 
than  a  treaty. 

Jones :  Are  we  to  understand  that  this  international  con- 
federation would  stand  for  disarmament  ? 

White :  No,  not  for  disarmament.  On  the  contrary, 
there  would  be  a  normal  average  armament  which  the  ad- 
hering nations  would  be  required  to  keep  up.  .  .  .  Each 
of  the  adhering  nations  would  contribute  a  just  and  adequate 
quota  to  the  total  military  strength  of  the  confederation, 
partly  in  money,  partly  in  territorial  strategic  advantages, 
partly  in  man-power,  and  partly  in  actual  and  potential 
military  and  industrial  resources.  In  this  manner  there 
could  be  a  systematic,  adequate,  and  just  contribution  of  all 
the  nations  concerned.  .  .  . 

Smith :  But  why  should  the  labors  of  such  a  confederation 
be  confined  to  armaments  ?  Why  could  it  not  also  have  its 
administrative  departments,  like  those  of  a  national  govern- 
ment? .  .  .  Why  could  there  not  be  international  de- 
partments of  the  Treasury,  of  the  Post  OflSce,  of  Agriculture, 
of  Commerce,  of  Labor,  of  Transports?  Would  there 
not  be  room  for  departments  like  these  to  deal  with  the 
international  phases  of  production  and  distribution? 

White :  I  think  there  would  be.  For  instance,  the  re- 
duced outlay  on  armaments  rendered  possible  under  the 
confederation  might  permit  the  formation  of  a  Federal  or 
International  Reserve  Bank  under  the  Department  of  the 
Treasury  of  the  Confederation.  In  this  case  each  of  the 
adherents  could  periodically  deposit  in  this  bank  a  sum 


330  •  DAVID   LUBIN 

equivalent  to  a  given  proportion  of  the  excess  amount  of  its 
former  military  and  war  expenditure.  The  funds  of  this 
bank  could  then  be  used  for  moving  crops,  for  obviating 
panics,  for  regulating  international  exchanges,  for  construct- 
ing international  canals,  and  for  other  purposes  of  inter- 
national public  utility.  The  International  Institute  of 
Agriculture  and  the  International  Postal  Union  are  already 
here,  ready  to  serve  the  purposes  of  the  confederation, 
perhaps  with  added  powers  and  increased  duties.  Similarly, 
departments  could  be  formed  to  deal  with  the  international 
phases  of  commerce  and  labor,  when  reciprocal  commercial 
and  industrial  treaty  measures  could  be  placed  in  their  hands, 
while  the  Department  of  Transports  could  be  entrusted  with 
the  international  phases  of  ocean  carriage.  M\ 

After  thus  outlining  the  nature  of  the  proposed  confedera- 
tion, Lubin  went  on  to  show  that  the  huge  war  debts,  the 
crushing  taxation,  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  international 
trade,  the  break-down  in  international  currencies  and  credits 
which  he  foresaw  must  be  the  inevitable  aftermath  of  war, 
would  force  the  nations  to  favor  such  a  confederation  as  the 
best  means  of  strengthening  and  restoring  credit,  indeed 
as  the  one  alternative  to  bankruptcy  and  revolution. 

Two  or  three  weeks  after  Lubin  had  completed  this  ex-  j 
position  of  his  views.  President  Wilson's  famous  Message  in 
which  the  League  of  Nations  was  first  announced  as  a  live 
political  issue,  came  to  add  strength  to  his  conviction  that 
the  times  were  now  ripe  to  take  this  proposal  up  as  a  prac- 
tical work. 

In  March,  1917,  war  was  complicated  by  revolution,  j 
Looking  backwards,  it  is  pathetic  to  remember  the  high 
hopes,  the  sense  of  glorious  liberation  with  which  the  Rus-  : 
sian  Revolution  was  greeted  in  the  democratic  countries.  , 
Alliance  with  the  Tzar  had  always  been  felt  as  a  sore  misfit 
by  those  who  were  praying  and  working  that  this  might  be  i 
a  war  to  end  war.  I 

Lubin  shared  in  a  special  manner  in  the  general  rejoicing,  ! 
and  he  celebrated  the  Passover  of  1917  in  the  belief  that  : 
Israel  had  again  been  delivered  from  the  Egyptian  bondage. 


V 


WAR   AND   PEACE  331 

Once  more  the  long-cherished  hope  rose  in  his  breast, 
the  hope  that  the  People  of  the  Book  might  again  be  the 
banner  bearer,  the  "Champion  for  God",  in  the  great  fight 
for  World  Confederation.  As  we  have  seen,  this  was  no 
new  idea  with  him. 

Writing  in  1912  to  Colonel  Weinstock  on  "Israel  and  his 
Ideal"  he  had  said : 

f  The  real  mission  of  Israel  is  work  toward  the  "just  weight 
/and  the  just  measure"  between  the  nations,   work  that 
I  shall  sterilize  the  pride  of  chauvinism,  that  shall  neutralize 
Ithe  poison  of  racial  hate,  work  that  shall  bind  all  the  nations 
with  the  golden  links  of  individual  advantage  so  equally  dis- 
tributed as  to  transmute  this  advantage  into  general  equity, 
work  that  shall  lay  low  Machiavellian   arbitrament  and 
realize  throughout  the  earth  in  all  its  grandeur  and  beauty 
the  divine  standard  of  life  dreamt  of  and  promulgated  by 
.^the  prophets  of  Israel.  .  .  . 
^    Let  Israel  but  be  Israel,  let  him  be  the  "Fighter  for 
•  God",   narrowed  to  the  lines  in  which  he  can  serve,  in 
which   he    should    serve,    let  him  but  be  that,   and  the 
world  will  do  more  than  tolerate,  it  will  get  down  on  its 
knees  and  worship.     It  is  this  work,  or  degeneration  and 
death.     There  is  no  halting ;  no,  not  for  one  so  powerfully 
.charged  as  is  the  Jew  with  the  conserved  energy  of  ages, 
so  charged  with  doctrines  that  underlie  social  evolution  in 
its  broadest  aspects. 

Let  the  Jew  stand  still,  divested  of  his  orthodoxy  and 
naked  of  idea  and  ideal,  and  you  will  presently  have  good 
cause  to  complain  of  "rishes"  (hatred).  .  .  .  Yet  give 
these  same  Jews  an  idea  and  an  ideal  and  they  become  the 
prophets,  the  seers,  the  upbuilders  of  the  new  world,  the 
world  dreamt  of  by  our  Isaiahs  and  our  Micahs.  And  they 
will  need  no  begging  for  toleration,  for  the  world  will  then 
love  them,  worship  them.  .  .  . 

It  is  only  a  parliament  of  nations,  with  law  and  power, 
the  power  and  majesty  of  the  people,  that  will  make  possible 
the  just  weight  and  the  just  measure  on  earth;  that  will 
make  possible  that  higher  Marseillaise  hymn  which  shall 
bring  on  earth  the  rule  which  is  in  heaven,  the  rule  of  equity 


332  DAVID   LUBIN 

And  you  have  the  presumption  to  ask  this  poor  carica- 
ture of  a  man,  this  poor,  hump-backed,  knock-kneed,  curly- 
headed,  timid,  outlawed,  ostracised  pawnbroker  and  pedler 
to  engage  in  this  occupation,  in  this  world-uplifting  fight  ? 

I  certainly  have,  and  am  warranted  in  my  belief  by  the 
fact  that  within  this  material,  within  this  structure,  are  the 
ingredients  of  power  adapted  to  do  just  this  work.  The 
Jew  needs  but  to  be  awakened.  Let  the  breath  of  the 
spirit  he  was  nurtured  on  during  the  centuries  of  his  cradling 
overshadow  the  valley  of  dry  bones,  and  the  dry  bones 
will  arise  men.  The  hair  will  grow  long  again,  and  Israel 
will  again  be  the  Nazarite  of  the  Lord,  and  there  will  be  no 
cords  strong  enough  to  bind  him,  for  he  will  be  invincible. 

The  acid  of  war,  acting  as  a  reagent,  had  precipitated 
much  that  had  hitherto  been  held  in  solution  in  the 
body  politic.  The  time  had  come  for  Israel  to  act  or,  as 
Lubin  wrote,  "for  ever  after  hold  his  peace." 

He  was  well  aware  that  individually  many  Jews  were, 
like  himself,  already  working  along  such  lines,  that  the  con- 
tribution of  the  race  to  American  and  World  civilization  and 
progress  was  individually  high;  but  he  wanted  more  than 
this ;  he  wanted  to  see  Israel  as  a  people  reawaken  to  his 
Messianic  Mission,  and  joining  hands  with  all  those  of  other 
races  entitled  by  their  works  to  that  proud  name  of  "Fighter 
for  God",  place  himself  in  the  vanguard  of  progressive  action 
towards  the  realization  of  Universal  Democracy,  the  United 
States  of  the  World. 

He  knocked  at  many  doors  with  his  message  but  always 
in  vain.  Among  others  he  approached  the  Intercollegiate 
Menorah  Association,  which  set  forth  as  its  purpose  "the 
promotion  of  Jewish  ideals."  In  August,  1917,  he  wrote  to 
its  Chancellor,  Mr.  Henry  Hurwitz  : 

Two  distinct  and  conflicting  forces  actuate  the  nations 
in  their  international  feelings  and  policy.  Of  these  forces 
one  is  represented  by  the  belief  in  the  *^  AllmachV*  of  natural 
selection,  based  on  a  violent  and  fatal  competitive  struggle 
...  a   struggle   bitter   and   ruthless   among   the   different 


WAR  AND  PEACE  333 

human  groups  (as  Mr.  Vernon  Kellogg  expresses  it  in  his 
article  "Nights  at  Headquarters"  in  the  August  Atlantic 
Monthly).  The  other  is  the  force  evolved  through  the  life  of 
Israel ;  the  force  which  wishes  to  establish  law,  the  law  of 
justice  and  equity  among  the  nations. 

And  these  two  forces,  represented  on  the  one  hand  by  the 
autocratic,  on  the  other  by  the  democratic  nations,  have 
locked  horns ;  they  are  engaged  in  combat,  a  combat  having 
for  arena  the  world.  The  fight  is  now  going  on,  with  the 
combatants  equally  matched  in  power  and  temper,  clasped 
in  deadly  embrace,  swaying  backwards  and  forwards,  now 
one  uppermost  and  now  the  other.  "Which  shall  prevail? 
Shall  it  be  the  force  of  violence,  the  struggle  of  the  brown  rat 
against  the  black,  the  force  of  the  ruthless  "Allmacht?'* 
Shall  it  not  be  the  force  of  law  and  solidarity,  of  justice  and 
equity  among  the  nations  ? 

And  right  here  is  the  long-sought  opportunity  for  Is- 
rael. .  .  . 

His  eagerness  was  again  met  by  incomprehension  and 
indifference,  incomprehension  and  indifference  which  most 
readers  may  feel  inclined  to  share ;  yet  Lubin  was  moved  in 
all  this  not  only  by  romantic  mysticism  but  by  the  realiza- 
tion of  a  very  real  need  arising  from  a  new  condition. 

He  dreaded  for  the  Jew  the  dangers  of  rank  materialism. 
Old-fashioned  orthodoxy  was  losing  its  hold,  and  unless  it 
were  replaced  by  an  ideal  in  line  with  the  spirit  and  traditions 
of  the  people  the  very  qualities  which  made  them  a  potential 
power  for  good  —  bold  speculation,  realism,  logic,  rare 
ability  in  seeing  means  to  ends  —  might  make  them  a  poten- 
tial power  for  evil. 

On  his  return  from  America  in  the  autumn  of  1916,  Lubin 
had  made  a  brief  stay  in  London,  mainly  to  talk  over  his 
views  on  ocean  freight  rates  with  leading  English  shipping 
authorities.  Sir  Owen  Philips,  Sir  Norman  Hill,  the  Rt. 
Hon.  Walter  Runciman  and  others.  On  this  occasion  he 
also  met  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells.  "I  have  been  interested  in  the 
International  Institute  of  Agriculture  for  some  years," 
Mr.  Wells  had  written  to  me  in  the  summer  of  1916,  "and  it 


334  DAVID  LUBIN 

was  that  which  made  me  give  Italy  a  kind  of  central  part  in 
the  world  pacification  in  my  'World  set  Free.'"  The  meet- 
ing between  the  writer  and  the  man  of  action  was  graphically 
described  in  an  article  by  Wells  on  whom  Lubin's  personality 
and  work  made  a  deep  impression.  They  met  only  this 
once,  but  that  they  kept  in  touch  the  following  letters  show : 

Easton  Glebe,  Dunmow, 
Oct.  1916. 

My  dear  Mr.  Lubin, 

I  have  read  your  Let  There  he  Light  with  great  care  and 
interest.  I  am  now  returning  it  to  you  with  the  two  typed 
papers  you  asked  me  to  return.  I  find  in  myself  a  very  com- 
plete understanding  of  your  line  of  thought  and  a  very  warm 
sympathy.  You  will  see  that  in  my  God  the  Invisible  King  I 
take  up  a  more  Christian  attitude  than  yours.  I  am  agnostic 
in  regard  to  your  God  and  I  use  the  word  "God"  to  express 
the  divine  in  man.  You  will  have  to  allow  for  this  proper 
difference  in  terminology  when  you  read  what  I  have  to 
say.  We  are  at  one  in  looking  to  a  world  in  which  mankind 
is  unified  under  God  as  King. 

I  should  be  very  interested  to  know  more  of  the  history 
of  your  thought  and  the  particulars  of  your  life.  I  do  not 
think  they  would  be  satisfactory  material  for  a  novel  but  I 
have  in  mind  a  book  The  Kingdom  of  God  which  might 
possibly  be  written  round  your  work  and  the  personalities 
of  yourself  and  your  mother. 

I  wish  by  the  bye  you  could  get  me  a  copy  of  Let  There 
Be  Light  to  keep.     I  would  like  it  by  me. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

H.  G.  Wells. 

Rome,  Nov.  4th,  1916. 

Dear  Mr.  Wells : 

I  have  received  your  welcome  letter  and  intended  to  an- 
swer it  right  then  and  there,  but  it  is  only  by  a  mere  scratchi 
that  I  am  writing  now,  some  weeks  after  the  time  of  its  re-l 
ceipt. 


WAR  AND  PEACE  335 

I  have  been  at  work  on  my  merchant  marine  report  al- 
most constantly  from  the  time  that  I  arrived ;  have  put  in 
fourteen  days  and  have  only  some  seven  poor  little  pages 
brought  out.  And  so,  for  the  time  being,  all  correspondence 
of  whatever  nature  is  in  abeyance  until  my  report  is  out, 
when  among  the  first  few  copies  will  be  one  for  yourself,  and 
let  me  say  for  Mrs.  Wells. 

I  have  disappointments  and  regrets  every  day;  this  old 
town  will  persist  in  striking  out,  in  clanging  aloud,  12  o'clock 
when  it  ought  not  to  be  more  than  10.15,  and  then  the  six 
o'clock  proposition  is  about  the  same.  So  much  to  be  done, 
and  so  precious  little  done,  and  the  family  so  large  (about 
one  billion  eight  hundred  million).  But,  hullo,  I  am  using 
up  time  now,  so  I  must  quit,  but  not  before  I  tell  you  that 
I  thank  you  for  the  pleasure  I  have  had  from  your  valuable 
books.  Will  tell  you  more  about  them  when  I  get  my  report 
off  the  table.  Last  night  it  was  after  twelve  when  I  got 
through  with  you  and  Teddy  and  Derick,  and  Britling. 
Bully  for  you.  But  say  throw  your  finite  God  overboard, 
please.  If  he  were  rubbed  on  the  stone  and  the  acid  poured 
on,  he  would  turn,  green. 

Did  it  ever  strike  you  that  the  "under-dog"  may  have 
something  to  say,  and  perhaps  in  the  near  future,  that  may 
set  a  thing  or  two  straight  ?  Oh,  no ;  how  could  you  think 
of  any  such  thing,  for  in  common  with  all  the  sons  of  Esau 
you  have  a  big  stick  for  the  "under-dog",  and  this  Esau 
crowd  have  been  so  busy  spitting  and  cursing  and  burning 
and  despising  and  hooting  and  tooting  that  they  have  got 
to  believe  it  all.  But  never  mind,  some  day  they  will  be 
treated  to  a  surprise  party,  and  they  will  know  better. 

Howsomed'  ever,  as  the  old  sailor  used  to  say,  "what's 
the  matter  with  Britling  ?  "     "  Oh,  he 's  all  right ! "    "  Who 's 
all    right?"      "Britling!      Hurrah!     hurrah!!     hurrah!!! 
Tiger!" 
And  now,  good-bye  for  the  present. 

Yours  sincerely, 

David  Lubin 
P.  S.  "Let  There  Be  Light"  has  come  back,  and  I  will 
take  pleasure  in  sending  it  back  to  you  again  "for  keeps." 


336  DAVID  LUBIN 


International  Institute  of  Agriculture, 
Rome,  May  21st,  1917. 

Dear  Mr.  Wells : 

I  thank  you  very  much  for  the  copy  of  your  illuminating 
book  "God,  the  Invisible  King",  which  I  have  already  gone 
over  hastily  during  some  of  my  spare  moments.  I  hope 
some  time  to  go  over  it  in  greater  detail. 

You  say  that  you  send  it  "in  the  hope  of  a  speedy  con- 
version." Conversion  to  what?  Evidently  to  the  ideas  set 
forth.  First  of  all  there  are  quite  a  few  of  these  to  which 
there  is  no  need  of  my  conversion,  for,  in  common  with  you, 
I  hold  to  them.  Such  are  the  oneness  of  God  and  the  exalted 
duty  of  service.  But  when  it  comes  to  your  "Finite  God", 
and  to  the  deductions  which  one  may  draw  from  your  book 
as  to  the  part  played  and  to  be  played  by  Israel  in  the  field 
of  service,  it  is  quite  clear  to  me  that  I  cannot  be  with  you, 
that  I  cannot  be  converted  to  such  views. 

As  to  the  Finite  God,  it  seems  to  me  that  such  a  god 
would  be  a  stranger  in  the  universe,  more  of  a  stranger  than 
you  or  I.  He  could  only  come  as  a  creature  of  the  infinite. 
The  infinite,  then,  would  be  God,  and  the  finite  god  would  be 
no  god  at  all.  If  I  were  tempted  to  give  a  definition  of  God 
I  would  rather  say  that  Infinite  Space  is  God,  the  great 
Noumenon,  and  that  all  things  in  space  are  phenomena, 
things  acted  upon  by  the  Infinite  Noumenon. 

"But,"  says  the  grocery-man,  "empty  space  is  just 
nothing.  You  can 't  lift  it  nor  weigh  it,  so  how  can  empty 
space  be  God?" 

But  is  the  grocer-man's  opinion  final  ?  By  no  means ; 
for  he  is  so  chock-full  of  his  experience  of  lifting  and  weigh- 
ing that  he  fails  to  realize  that  his  analysis  is  empirical. 

He  fails  to  see  that  his  reasoning  process  is  limited  by  the 
laws  of  phenomena  as  they  appear  to  him ;  he  fails  to  see 
that  beyond  his  range  of  vision  there  are  the  higher  laws, 
higher  and  still  higher,  until  they  approach  the  Absolute, 
the  Infinite.  He  seems  to  know  one  pound,  ten  pounds, 
sugar,  candles,  soap,  as  a  reality,  and  as  the  end  of  reality. 
He  fails  to  see  that  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  absolute 
his  knowledge  is  limited  to  a  set  of  symbols,  and  judging  by 


WAR  AND  PEACE  837 

these  symbols  he  jumps  to  a  conclusion  that  space  is  just 
nothing  at  all,  that  God  is  only  real  if  he  can  be  lifted, 
"hefted"  as  it  were. 

But  let  the  scholar  bring  this  grocery-man  to  the  laboratory 
and  show  him  the  particles  constituting  his  sugar,  candles, 
soap,  and  the  laws  governing  their  properties,  and  the  re- 
lations of  these  laws  stretching  out  far  beyond  his  vision 
until  they  pass  from  our  knowable  world  of  phenomena  into 
the  vast  universe  of  the  Noumenon,  and  it  would  then  be 
reasonable  to  expect  that  his  opinions  would  shift,  would 
undergo  a  marked  change,  bringing  his  mind  closer  and  closer 
to  a  truer  apprehension  of  the  relations  of  things,  of  his 
relation  to  the  universal  Noumenon,  of  his  relation  to 
God. 

But  the  reverence  engendered  by  this  larger  view  of  re- 
lations bids  us  be  modest  and  stop  short  in  postulating  defini- 
tions or  personifications  of  that  God.  This,  as  Maimonides 
tells  us,  was  the  teaching  of  the  sages  of  Israel.  These  sages 
taught  that  it  was  more  rational  and  more  reverent  to  appre- 
hend God  through  negations  rather  than  through  affir- 
mations. They  taught  that  we  approach  closer  to  the  truth 
by  affirming  that  God  cannot  be  unjust,  that  he  cannot  be 
unmerciful,  that  he  cannot  be  limited  in  knowledge  or  power, 
and  that  we  reach  a  truer  conception  of  God  through  such 
negations  than  through  their  opposites,  through  affirmations. 
So  far  for  the  God  idea. 

And  now,  my  dear  Mr.  Wells,  let  me  say  in  conclusion 
that  my  contention  is  not  with  the  substance  of  your  teach- 
ing on  the  subject  of  service;  on  the  contrary,  I  heartily 
agree  with  you.  My  contention  is  with  your  postulates 
and  definitions  of  God.  Just  how  you  can  come  to  the  con- 
clusion of  service  on  your  postulate  is  beyond  my  compre- 
hension, for  as  the  true  marksman  must  have  a  given  point  at 
which  to  aim,  so  the  effective  teacher  must  have  a  logical 
postulate  from  which  to  draw  his  deductions.  Do  you  not 
think  so  ?     With  high  esteem,  I  am 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

David  Lubin 


338  DAVID   LUBIN 

Easton  Glebe, 

Dunmow,  (May  1918) 

My  dear  Lubin 

A  Noumenon  cannot  "act  upon"  Phenomena.  Phenom- 
ena are  the  aspects  of  Noumena  in  the  time-space  system  of 
conscious  Hf e :  This  rather  affects  your  general  argument. 
And  as  for  the  mission  of  the  Jewish  race,  that  is  manifestly 
an  affair  for  that  race  which  is  not  mine.  Except  for  your 
race  restriction  you  speak  of  "Israel"  very  much  as  I  speak 
of  God.  What 's  in  a  name  ?  Your  God  of  negatives,  the 
God  of  Maimonides  and  Spinoza  I  define  not  by  negatives 
but  by  polite  doubts  and  call  the  Veiled  Being.  My  "God" 
is  the  Israel  of  all  mankind.  Unless  you  translate  these 
terms  you  will  keep  at  loggerheads  with  my  work.  Really 
there  is  a  close  parallelism  between  "God"  as  I  understand 
Him,  your  "Israel"  and  (except  for  the  association  with  the 
man  Jesus)  the  "Spirit-Christ"  of  Pauline  Christianity. 

Yours  ever, 

H.  G.  Wells. 

Thus  while  battles  raged  on  every  side  and  the  sands  of 
his  life  ran  low,  David  Lubin  worked  on  at  his  self-appointed 
task. 

Will  Irwin  in  the  Saturday  Evening  Post  gave  a  picturesque 
glimpse  of  him  in  the  summer  of  1917  in  Sorrento.  There, 
sitting  on  a  broad,  arcaded  terrace  opening  out  of  a  room  in 
the  Hotel  Victoria,  overlooking  the  wonderful  beauty  of  the 
Bay  of  Naples,  beauty  rendered  psychic  by  the  age-long  his- 
tory which  has  soaked  into  every  nook  and  cranny  of  the 
landscape,  the  famous  war  correspondent  met  "the  world's 
greatest  internationalist." 

"A  face  both  strong  and  whimsical  —  a  wide  mouth,  firm 
yet  humorous ;  a  full  head  of  unruly  iron-gray  hair ;  a  short 
straight  nose,  rounded  at  the  point.  His  frank  and  candid 
blue  eyes  gaze  at  you  from  under  eyebrows  as  thick  and  as 
white  as  rolls  of  cotton  wool.  His  broad  and  stalwart  figure 
belies  his  real  condition ;  for  he  is  not  in  robust  health  —  is 


WAR  AND  PEACE  339 

in  fact  harnessed  to  one  place  at  a  time.  Now  and  then  as 
he  talks  his  words  die  away ;  he  closes  his  eyes  and  breathes 
heavily  for  a  minute  —  one  of  his  heart  spasms  has  caught 
him.  Two  minutes  afterward,  as  likely  as  not,  he  is  bursting 
out  on  some  folly  of  his  times  with  a  vehemence  of  voice  and 
gesture  that  gives  his  listener  an  uneasy  concern  lest  he  in- 
jure himself."  Such  was  Will  Irwin's  impression  of  David 
Lubin.  And  here  is  a  snatch  of  their  conversation  in  those 
September  days,  when  the  long-drawn-out  struggle  with  ifs 
alternatives  of  success  and  defeat  had  made  the  world's 
heart  grow  sick  with  hope  deferred. 

"You  know  Spencer,  I  suppose,"  he  said,  holding  up  a  copy 
of  First  Principles.  "Do  you  know  anything  of  Maimon- 
ides  ?  No  ?  Let  me  tell  you  about  him.  This  Maimonides 
was  a  Jew.  Therefore  he  had,  of  course,  a  crafty  disposition. 
Spencer  had  finished  the  first  hundred  pages  of  his  book. 
Somehow  —  I  don't  exactly  know  what  trick  he  used,  but 
he  was  a  Jew  and  crafty,  as  we  say  —  Maimonides  sneaked 
into  Spencer's  study,  stole  those  first  hundred  pages  and 
plagiarized  them.  There  they  are  in  his  'Guide  to  the 
perplexed ' ;  read  them  when  you  have  time.  The  circum- 
stantial evidence  seems  absolute.  There  is  only  one  thing 
about  the  story  that  puzzles  me"  —  Lubin  leaned  forward, 
transfixed  me  with  his  clear  blue  eyes,  and  smiled —  "Mai- 
monides died  seven  hundred  years  before  Spencer.  Still, 
I  suppose  you  can  explain  that  little  discrepancy,  —  how 
Maimonides  came  to  know  so  much  of  what  is  contained  in 
Herbert  Spencer's  First  Principles. 

"Maimonides  was  the  mentor  of  Spinoza,  but  look  what 
Spinoza  has  written  !"  He  opened  another  book,  and  I  read 
from  the  Tractatus  Theologico-politicus,  which  I  quote  from 
memory : 

"Therefore  the  sovereign  state  is  not  under  the  moral 
law.  Acts  immoral  or  punishable  in  an  individual  may  be 
considered  moral  when  performed  by  the  state." 

"And  there  you  are !"  said  Lubin.  "And  there  you  are ! 
The  creed  of  the  pagan  state,  the  creed  of  the  beast !     But 


S40  DAVID  LUBIN 

it 's  logical,  mind  you,  that.  A  missionary  just  arrived  askec 
a  heathen  chief  '  What 's  good  ? '  *  That  I  may  take  myl 
neighbor's  wives  and  oxen,'  said  the  chief.  'And  what  is 
evil?'  'That  my  neighbor  takes  my  wives  and  oxen.' 
In  the  beginning  the  world  was  void  and  there  were  no 
morals.  The  strongest  savage  went  out  with  a  club  and  | 
brained  his  neighbor  and  took  away  his  ox  and  his  woman. 
'Well,'  said  people,  'we  can't  get  along  like  this;  it's  too 
disturbing.  If  this  keeps  up  there  won't  be  anything  left 
of  us  but  just  that  fellow.'  So  they  got  together  and  had  a 
pow-wow  and  passed  rules  of  conduct.  Then  they  agreed 
that  the  first  fellow  that  broke  the  rules  should  have  the 
whole  tribe  on  his  neck.  So  we  began  to  have  morals ;  and 
then  came  Israel  and  the  law  and  the  commandments.  Thou 
shalt  not  kill !  And  if  you  do,  society  will  take  care  of  you. 
But  get  this  —  it  couldn't  exist  without  the  agreement  of 
society.  It  needed  force,  corporate  force,  —  every  one 
getting  together  and  agreeing  that  if  John  was  wronged  by 
James  all  the  rest  would  come  down  on  James  hard.  We  had 
the  law  inside  the  nations ;  but  in  the  relations  between  nations 
—  each  was  sovereign  —  there  was  anarchy,  anarchy  !  .  .  . 
"Christianity  is  all  right,"  he  added,  running  suddenly 
up  one  of  those  little  intellectual  bypaths  that,  with  him, 
always  come  back  to  the  main  track.  "There  is  nothing 
to  criticize  in  Christianity  whenever  it  is  grandly  Christian, 
for  then  it  is  also  Hebraic.  But  it  is  often  otherwise  in  some 
of  the  applications  of  Christianity.  It 's  when  they  trot  out 
the  banners  of  a  king  who  's  going  to  conquer  some  innocent 
little  country  and  bless  them  —  bless  robbery  and  murder  in 
the  name  of  Christianity  —  that  the  reasonable  Jew  objects. 
It's  when  some  upper  class,  in  the  name  of  a  perverted 
Christianity,  says  to  the  poor :  '  Oh,  yes,  I  know  you  're 
miserable ;  but  think  of  the  glorious  time  to  come  !  If  you 
thank  God  that  things  are  as  they  are  and  behave  yourselves, 
and  leave  us  the  fine  clothes  and  the  champagne  and  the 
leisure  and  the  glory  of  this  world,  you  '11  be  rewarded  eter- 
nally in  heaven.' 


WAR  AND  PEACE  S41 

"Israel's  prophets  and  teachers  always  tried  to  bring  the 
Kingdom  on  earth  as  well  as  in  heaven.  And  that 's  what 
I  'm  getting  at  when  I  talk  of  a  confederation  of  the  democra- 
cies creating  the  Kingdom.  That  is  Jewish ;  that  is  Chris- 
tian; it  is  not  pagan.  We've  made  progress  within  the 
nations.  A  man  can't  kill  his  enemy  because  he  feels  like 
it.  If  he  does  all  society  gets  together  and  jumps  on  him 
—  sees  that  he  doesn't  do  it  again.  The  nations  ought  to  do 
and  can  do  the  same  thing.  They  couldn't  have  done  it  a 
century  ago,  maybe.  They  weren't  in  touch.  They 
couldn't  understand  each  other.  Now  they  are  —  they  can 
understand  each  other  if  they  will.  .  .  ." 

But  the  blackest  days  of  the  world  war  were  yet  to  come. 
Shortly  after  Mr.  Lubin's  return  to  Rome  in  the  autumn  of 
1917  the  tragic  defeat  of  Caporetto  sent  a  shock  throughout 
Italy.  Starving,  homeless  refugees  came  pouring  into  the 
capital,  while  silent  but  resolute  crowds  of  women,  children, 
and  the  aged  or  infirm  watched  the  recruits  of  the  1900  levy, 
the  boys  of  seventeen  and  eighteen,  march  through  the  streets 
on  their  way  to  hold  that  line  of  the  Piave  which  military  ex- 
perts declared  to  be  untenable,  but  which  the  youth  of  Italy 
held  in  despite  of  all :  "Here  we  stay  or  die." 

Lubin's  reaction  to  the  general  dismay  was  startling;  he 
declared  that  this  overpowering  misfortune  was  "a  blessing 
in  disguise."  "Hitherto  there  has  been  an  Allied  front  and 
an  Italian  front ;  this  was  wrong ;  Italy  is  as  essential  to  the 
success  of  the  Allied  cause  as  France ;  the  Allies  have  failed 
to  see  this ;  now  it  will  be  brought  home  to  them." 

He  felt  strongly  that  the  United  States  should  assist  Italy, 
if  not  with  fighting  men,  at  least  with  supplies  and  funds. 

"Substantially  the  case  seems  to  be  this:  the  American 
people  have  already  placed  on  one  side  of  the  scale  some 
fifteen  to  twenty  billion  dollars,  they  are  placing  on  the  same 
side  of  the  scale  a  million  American  men,  with  more  dollars 
and  more  men  to  follow  until  the  indicator  on  tne  scale  points 
to  victory,  and  a  victory  of  high  moment. 


342  DAVID  LUBIN 

"Hitherto,  there  have  been  the  Immortal  Three :  Judaea, 
Greece,  Rome.  Classic  events  are  now  shaping  the  fourth 
—  America. 

"And  now  a  psychologic  moment  has  come,  a  moment 
which  demands  the  instantaneous  employment  of  a  billion 
or  two  of  dollars  to  remove  overstrained  tension  on  the 
Italian  end  of  the  Allied  front.  Can  we  afford  to  hesitate  ? 
Can  we  afford  to  brush  this  need  aside  and  trust  to  chance 
to  overcome  the  peril  ? 

"  What  a  great  risk  !  A  risk  not  merely  of  millions  of  men 
and  billions  of  dollars,  but  a  risk  which  may  spell  defeat ;  a 
risk  which  would  jeopardize  the  life  of  Freedom.  Can  we 
afford  to  take  that  risk?" 

Thus  he  concluded  a  statement  embodying  the  result 
of  a  confidential  inquiry  he  made  into  the  urgency  of  the 
need,  a  statement  which  was  cabled  on  to  the  State  Depart- 
ment by  the  Ambassador.  In  this  he  summoned  up  a  pic- 
ture of  those  tragic  days  when,  as  the  Minister  of  Supplies, 
Crespi  told  him  on  January  7,  "Our  supplies  of  grain  will 
only  last  to  the  end  of  January ;  we  have  come  to  the  end 
not  only  of  our  stocks  of  cereals,  but  also  of  such  foods  as 
rice,  potatoes,  and  beans;"  when  Signor  Galenga,  Under- 
Secretary  of  State  for  the  Interior,  summarized  the  situation 
in  the  following  words :  "The  fighting  spirit  of  the  army  is 
splendid ;  the  spirit  of  the  people  is  good,  as  good  as  we  could 
wish ;  but  the  food  and  coal  questions  border  on  the  verge 
of  disaster."  Those  who  were  not  in  Italy  in  the  winter  of 
1917-1918  fail  to  realize  the  severity  of  the  privations  which 
the  Italian  people  accepted  while  preparing  for  the  rally 
which  in  June,  1918,  led  to  the  first  victory  of  the 
Piave.  - 

One  ray  of  light,  almost  symbolic  of  the  liberation  to  come, 
illumined  the  gloom  of  the  Christmas  of  1917.  General 
Allenby  entered  Jerusalem ;  the  Holy  Land  was  freed  from 
Turkish  rule. 

The  intention  of  the  British  Government  as  announced 
by  Mr.  Balfour,  to  establish  in  Palestine  "a  national  home 


WAR  AND  PEACE  843 

for  the  Jewish  people"  could  not  fail  to  evoke  a  responsive 
thrill  of  emotion  in  David  Lubin. 

"Thus,  all  of  a  sudden  as  when  the  brilliant  sun  emerges 
from  behind  a  thick  bank  of  black  clouds,  there  comes  light, 
and  at  last  there  is  held  out  for  the  Jewish  people  the  glorious 
prospect  of  emancipation,  of  freedom  ...  it  seems  that  the 
age-long  dream  is  about  to  be  realized ;  Palestine  is  again 
to  become  the  Land  of  Israel,"  he  wrote  in  an  eloquent  letter 
addressed  to  Justice  Louis  Brandeis  (March  20,  1918). 

Li  this  letter  he  explained  his  change  of  attitude  on  the 
question  of  Zionism.  Referring  to  an  article  he  had  written 
in  1916  in  the  American  Israelite,  in  which  he  had  argued  that 
the  spiritual  mission  of  the  Jewish  people  could  best  be  carried 
on  if  they  remained  dispersed  among  the  nations  rather  than 
under  an  autonomous  government  in  Palestine,  he  says : 

Subsequent  thought  and  some  personal  experience  have, 
however,  modified  my  opinion  on  this  point.  I  now  see  that 
Israel  under  dispersion  may  be  compared  to  a  force  reduced 
to  a  number  of  heterogeneous  points  moving  in  heterogeneous 
places,  and  such  heterogeneity  is  unsuited  as  a  means  for 
the  end  in  view.  I  now  see  that  the  promulgation  of  the 
Mission  of  Israel  demands  a  world  center,  a  world  authority 
whence  the  forces  actuating  it  could  radiate  in  every  direc- 
tion. .  .  .  Given  such  a  national  home,  and  the  Jewish 
people  would  awaken  from  the  comatose  inactivity  into 
which  it  has  been  forced  by  twenty  centuries  of  continuous 
persecution.  It  could  then  begin  the  labors  of  its  appointed 
task.  .  .  .  Part  of  this  task  has  already  been  accomplished. 
It  is  now  some  two  thousand  years  since  the  ethics  of  Israel 
were  promulgated  to  the  Gentiles,  and  the  world  was  Chris- 
tianized. But  the  nations,  in  their  assumption  of  the  right 
of  absolute  sovereignty  rule,  are  still  under  the  sway  of 
paganism.  Such  an  assumption  of  absolute  sovereignty 
is  pagan.  It  is  protested  against  by  the  Jewish  people. 
In  the  Jewish  prayer-book  we  read :  '  Our  Father  and  our 
King  we  have  no  Sovereign  but  Thee.'  Protest  against 
absolute  sovereignty  has  been  made  by  the  Jewish  people 
from  time  immemorial  to  the  present  day.     Such  sovereignty 


344  DAVID  LUBIN 

is  protested  against  from  cover  to  cover  of  the  Old  Testament. 
.  .  .  We  cherish  as  our  most  exalted  hope  the  belief  that 
the  day  will  come  when  Israel  will  be  called  upon  to  take  up 
his  mission  for  the  abolition  of  such  absolute  sovereignty 
rule  upon  earth ;  to  insure  the  acceptance  of  the  ethics  taught 
by  the  Prophets;  to  bring  the  nations,  collectively  as  well 
as  individually,  under  the  yoke  of  law,  the  law  of  justice,  of 
equity,  of  righteousness.  And  this  rule  of  law,  of  the  law 
of  righteousness,  must  in  the  end  culminate  in  the  democrat- 
ization of  the  nations  and  in  the  formation  of  a  Confederation 
of  these  Democracies  under  a  Constitution. 

Has  it  not  been  this  idea,  this  ideal  that  has,  through  the 
centuries,  given  Israel  almost  superhuman  strength,  strength 
to  withstand  the  terrors  to  which,  as  bearer  of  this  message, 
he  was  subjected  ?  Is  not  the  ideal  of  this  high  service  con- 
sciously or  potentially  in  the  mind  and  soul  of  the  Jew  to- 
day? Has  it  not  come  down  to  him  through  some  forty 
centuries  of  transmitted  heredity  ?  Has  it  not  thus  become 
a  rooted  psychic  force  in  Israel?  It  has  indeed;  a  force 
which  no  power  in  the  world  can  now  eradicate. 

And  is  there  not  room  for  this  force  as  a  necessary  supple- 
ment to  Christianity  ?  As  is  well  known,  Christianity  deals, 
in  the  main,  with  certain  matters  of  the  soul  and  its  trans- 
lation to  heaven,  whereas  Judaism,  in  the  main,  concerns 
itself  with  matters  of  righteousness  upon  earth.  Judaism 
is  concerned  with  political  righteousness,  with  social  right- 
eousness, with  righteousness  in  exchange,  with  economic 
righteousness.  There  is  thus  room  in  the  world,  side  by  side, 
for  a  dynamic  and  militant  Christianity  on  the  one  hand, 
and  for  a  dynamic  and  militant  Judaism  on  the  other. 

Therefore,  the  announcement  by  the  British  Government 
for  the  establishment  in  Palestine  of  a  "national  home  for 
the  Jewish  people"  is  welcomed  as  an  earnest  that  Israel 
will  soon  be  in  a  position  to  take  up  this  mission.  And  for 
this  reason  Jews  everywhere,  and  at  all  times,  must  ever  be 
grateful,  must  ever  be  under  obligations  to  England  for  the 
noble  initiative  she  has  taken,  furthering  the  labors  of  the 
Zionists  the  world  over  in  this  matter  which  so  deeply  con- 
cerns Israel  and  his  mission. 

Our  earnest  prayers  go  up  to  the  Almighty  for  the  success 


WAR  AND  PEACE  345 

of  General  Allenby  and  of  the  British  and  Allied  arms  in 
Palestine,  and  the  world  over,  now  battling,  in  this  great 
struggle  of  Democracy  against  Autocracy  for  Jehovah,  the 
Power  of  Righteousness,  against  Odin,  the  power  of  brute  force. 

Thus  in  those  bitter  days,  while  defeat  stared  the  Allied 
armies  in  the  face  on  the  battle  fields  of  France,  while  Bolshe- 
vism was  negotiating  the  peace  of  Brest-Litovsk,  this  son  of 
a  martyr  people,  undaunted  by  the  dangers  of  the  hour, 
looked  steadfastly  ahead,  and  with  the  eyes  of  faith  saw  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  that  Righteousness  which  he  had  humbly 
served  all  the  days  of  his  life. 

And  gradually  the  tide  turned;  victory  smiled  on  the 
Allied  armies,  and  with  victory  a  still  greater  hope  dawned 
for  the  war-worn  peoples  of  Europe.  For  years  David 
Lubin  had  worked  in  the  cause  of  world  organization  in  an 
environment  which  looked  askance  at  such  Utopias;  now, 
suddenly,  it  looked  as  if  the  reaction  from  war  would  result 
in  a  sudden  jolt  forward  in  the  direction  of  internationalism. 
The  words  "League  of  Nations"  had  already  become  fa- 
miliar, but  what  they  exactly  implied  no  one  knew.  Deeply 
imbued  as  he  was  with  the  international  spirit,  Lubin  did 
not  delude  himself  into  the  belief  that  the  world  was  ripe 
for  a  super-government;  he  feared  that  the  League  by  at- 
tempting too  much  might  achieve  too  little;  might  end, 
perhaps,  in  a  conference  of  the  Hague  type,  in  speeches  and 
resolutions.  He  wanted  the  world  organized  for  peace, 
and  hoped  that  the  course  taken  might  be  that  of  rendering 
permanent  and  widening  from  allied  to  international  the 
several  organs  for  cooperation  in  the  economic  field  which 
had  made  victory  possible.  Solidarity  in  finance  and  in  the 
use  of  raw  materials  and  national  resources  he  felt  to  be 
essential  to  rapid  economic  recovery. 

These  ideas  found  expression  in  a  resolution  he  drew  up, 
and  which  was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Permanent 
Committee  of  the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture  at 
its  meeting  on  November  25,  1918,  the  last,  as  it  turned  out, 
which  David  Lubin  was  to  attend. 


346  DAVID  LUBIN 

Whereas  we  see  that  during  the  war  the  Allied  Nations 
have  confederated  their  activities  in  the  handling  of  agri- 
cultural production  and  distribution  of  raw  materials,  trans- 
portation and  finance,  thereby  promoting  the  general  wel- 
fare ;   and 

Whereas  the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture, 
founded  by  the  far-seeing  initiative  of  H.  M.  the  King  of 
Italy  has,  during  the  whole  period  of  the  war  been  the  center 
of  world-wide  information  and  data  needed  for  the  solution 
of  the  agricultural  problems  which  the  governments  had  to 
deal  with,  and  has  been  established  to  ensure  economic 
benefits  to  all  the  adhering  countries,  and  is  empowered 
under  letter  (f),  article  9,  of  the  Treaty  to  take  up  measures 
for  the  protection  of  the  interests  of  farmers  and  for  the 
improvement  of  their  conditions ;   therefore  be  it 

Resolved :  that  the  International  Institute  of  Agricul- 
ture draw  the  attention  of  the  adhering  Governments  to 
the  fact  that  in  addition  to  the  services  it  now  renders  them, 
the  Institute  could  be  availed  of  by  the  League  of  Nations 
as  one  of  the  organs  of  the  aforesaid  federated  activities ; 
and  it  respectfully  suggests  to  the  adhering  governments  to 
bring  this  to  the  attention  of  the  Conference  for  the  forma- 
tion of  the  League  of  Nations. 

The  last  weeks  of  his  life  were  lived  intensely.  The  atmos- 
phere was  electric  with  hopes  and  fears,  to  which  this  veteran 
worker  responded  with  every  fiber  of  his  being.  Already 
there  were  premonitory  symptoms  of  what  was  to  be  the 
tragic  disillusionment  of  the  Peace  Conference.  Lubin 
sensed  the  hostility  of  the  American  people  to  the  unduly 
personal  tone  which  President  Wilson  was  giving  to  his 
policies ;  he  thought  his  decision  to  come  to  Europe  an  un- 
qualified mistake.  Several  things  had  been  accomplished 
in  the  two  terms  of  the  Presidency  which  had  won  his  sym- 
pathy :  the  liberal  revision  of  the  tariff,  the  Federal  Re- 
serve Act,  the  adoption  of  a  system  of  rural  credits,  the 
effort  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  "  special  interests."  When  the 
war  came  he  accepted  the  policy  of  neutrality,  though  strain- 
ing at  the  leash  as  the  Lusitania  and  other  atrocities  made 


WAR  AND  PEACE  S47 

clear  the  nature  of  the  struggle.  But  his  fervent  belief  in 
democracy  and  in  the  wisdom  of  counsel  made  him  increas- 
ingly suspicious  of  the  autocratic  attitude  the  President  was 
assuming. 

Death  spared  him  the  sorrow  of  witnessing  the  loss  of  the 
greatest  opportunity  ever  afforded  a  man  or  a  nation. 

In  the  autumn  and  winter  of  1918  death  was  reaping  a 
heavy  harvest  in  Italy.  The  influenza,  striking  a  nation 
worn  by  the  anxieties  and  privations  of  four  years  of  war, 
made  in  a  few  weeks  more  victims  than  the  five  hundred 
thousand  whom  Italy  lost  at  the  front.  Lubin  had  a  pre- 
monition that  his  end  was  imminent  and  worked  on  as  one 
who  has  much  to  do  in  little  time.  The  cause  that  claimed 
most  of  his  effort  in  those  last  weeks  was  that  of  close  eco- 
nomic relations  between  Italy  and  the  United  States. 

"There  is  perhaps  no  other  country  in  Europe  that  can  be 
placed  quicker  on  the  road  to  rapid  recovery  from  the  burden- 
some costs  of  the  war  than  Italy.  More  than  that,  her  vast 
stores  of  latent  wealth,  when  properly  put  to  play  their  great 
part,  can  place  Italy  in  the  forefront  among  the  leading 
industrial  and  commercial  nations  of  the  world ;  and  if  the 
question  be  asked  where  is  '  that  vast  store  of  latent  wealth ' 
the  answer  can  be  readily  given :  Italy's  latent  wealth  con- 
sists in  the  millions  of  her  intelligent,  industrious  and  sober 
men  and  women." 

Thus  he  wrote  in  the  first  of  a  series  of  three  articles  which 
he  contributed  on  this  subject  to  the  Giomale  d'ltalia  Agri- 
colo  in  August,  1918.  His  views,  to  which  I  have  referred 
in  a  previous  chapter,  were  also  expressed  in  various  articles 
published  in  the  Tribuna  and  the  Fronte  Intemo  in  Italy, 
and  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post  and  other  American 
papers.  They  attracted  no  inconsiderable  degree  of  atten- 
tion in  both  countries.  In  Rome  a  committee  of  Italian 
statesmen,  economists,  and  business  men  was  formed,  and 
had  Lubin  lived  there  is  little  doubt  that  early  in  1919  a 
representative  Italian  Commission  would  have  visited  the 
United  States  to  enter  into  direct  relations  with  the  business 


348  DAVID   LUBIN 

and  financial  world  with  a  view  to  making  Italy  an  industrial 
base  for  developing  the  whole  commerce  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean Basin.  Lubin  attended  the  first  meeting  of  the 
committee.  The  second  was  called  for  December  29.  On 
December  28  he  was  seized  by  a  violent  attack  of  the  pre- 
vailing epidemic. 

From  the  first  it  was  apparent  that  the  illness  would 
have  a  fatal  termination,  but  to  the  end  his  thoughts  were 
of  the  work  to  which  he  had  dedicated  his  life.  On  the  last 
day  he  kept  repeating  the  word  "cornucopia";  the  nurse 
thought  his  mind  was  wandering,  but  it  was  the  vision  he  had 
summoned  up  in  talking  to  me  only  a  few  days  before  that 
was  haunting  his  dying  thoughts,  that  vision  of  America 
as  the  cornucopia  of  the  nations,  blessing  and  blessed.  His 
friend  the  American  Consul,  Mr.  Francis  Keene,  came  to  see 
him,  and  though  his  strength  had  almost  ebbed,  it  was  of 
Italy's  need  and  America's  opportunity  that  he  spoke. 

As  the  bells  rung  in  the  New  Year  which  all  hoped  was  to 
inaugurate  a  new  era  of  peace  and  good  will  among  men, 
David  Lubin  passed  away.  For  the  first  time  this  strenuous 
worker  was  at  rest.    For  him  the  Great  Peace  had  dawned. 


CHAPTER  XX 

SALVE  ATQUE  YALE 

Rome  was  looking  its  brightest  on  January  3,  1919,  when 
a  few  friends  and  fellow  workers  accompanied  David  Lubin 
through  flag-bedecked  streets  to  his  last  resting  place. 

The  Eternal  City  had  turned  out  in  her  thousands  that 
day  to  welcome  the  President  of  the  United  States,  the 
promulgator  of  that  League  of  Nations  which  had  aroused 
such  high  hopes  in  war-worn  Europe.  The  press  and  the 
public  had  ears  and  eyes  for  nothing  else. 

In  the  flurry  and  excitement  of  the  President's  arrival, 
the  United  States  Embassy  forgot  to  send  a  representative 
to  the  funeral,  and  the  only  official  recognition  of  this  long  life 
of  service  was  a  beautiful  floral  tribute  from  the  King  of 
Italy.  With  the  same  simplicity  with  which  he  had  lived, 
this  Pioneer  of  organized  international  life  went  to  his  well- 
earned  rest.  And  this  was  as  David  Lubin  would  have 
wished  it. 

**Just  an  ordinary  scrub  man,"  but  one  privileged  to  be 
an  instrument  toward  achieving  a  great  purpose ;  a  simple, 
plain  citizen  of  a  democracy,  but  one  who  realized  that  no 
nobler  title  could  be  conferred  on  him  than  that  of  "citizen 
of  the  United  States"  by  which  the  King  of  Italy  had  pro- 
claimed him  the  originator  of  an  idea  which  holds  in  germ 
much  that  the  years  to  come  will  fructify. 

I  have  endeavored  in  these  pages  to  tell  what  David  Lubin 
accomplished.  RecajNtulation  is  needless.  His  long  life 
had  in  it  much  of  romance ;  it  knew  the  pangs  of  disappoint- 
ment and  deep  sorrow,  the  isolation  and  loneliness  of  the 
pioneer,  the  vivid  joys  of  achievement  following  on  long 
and  anxious  effort.  By  sheer  hard  work  he  had  risen  from 
poverty  to  affluence,  from  ignorance   to  knowledge,  from 


350  DAVID  LUBIN 

obscurity  to  eminence.  The  faith  that  was  in  him  had 
worked  the  miracle.  In  an  age  of  skepticism  he  retained 
his  belief ;  he  shed  many  of  the  exteriorities  but  held  fast 
to  the  inner  essence  of  Religion. 

And  with  all  he  was  a  man ;  with  a  full  share  of  a  man's 
weaknesses,  but  none  the  less  made  "in  the  image  of  God." 

Incapable  of  falsehood  or  meanness,  steadfast  in  friend- 
ship, loyal  to  his  fellow  workers,  his  transparent  sincerity 
and  honesty  disarmed  hostility :  he  had  opponents,  not 
enemies. 

By  the  poor  and  by  those  in  humble  positions  he  was  much 
loved,  both  for  his  abundant  charity,  and  still  more  for  the 
spirit  of  brotherly  fellowship  which  marked  his  bearing 
towards  them.  The  servants  in  the  hotel  he  lived  in,  the 
Roman  cabmen  with  whom  he  was  a  well-known  figure,  the 
subordinates  who  came  in  touch  with  him  at  the  Institute, 
all  mourned  his  death  as  a  personal  loss. 

Ever  ready  to  give  a  helping  hand  to  the  young  with  whom 
he  was  brought  in  contact,  he  was  looked  up  to  by  them  and 
trusted  as  a  leader.  His  broad  sympathies  enabled  him  to 
form  firm  friendships  with  people  of  all  nations.  In  Italy 
his  memory  is  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  work  under  David  Lubin  and  with 
him  for  over  fourteen  years.  If  his  tone  was  often  emphatic, 
sometimes  dictatorial,  it  was  never  pompous ;  he  was  exact- 
ing but  never  tedious  or  dull.  Generous  in  recognition  of 
service  rendered,  he  encouraged  independence  of  thought 
and  expression,  treating  all  who  worked  for  him  as  collabo- 
rators in  a  great  cause.  He  was  alike  free  from  vanity  and 
from  adulation. 

Wherever  he  set  up  his  lares  and  penates  abundant  hos- 
pitality reigned.  He  had  a  ready  wit  and  keen  sense  of 
humor,  could  laugh  heartily  and  make  others  laugh ;  could 
see  a  joke  against  himself  and  take  it  in  good  part.  He  took 
life  neither  as  a  tragedy  nor  as  a  sport,  but  as  a  battle  to  be 
fought  manfully,  joyfully,  thankfully,  keeping  the  goal  of 
Service  ever  in  sight. 


SALVE  ATQUE  VALE  351 

Perhaps  the  deepest  lesson  his  life  teaches  is  that  man  need 
not  be  the  sport  of  circumstances,  that  he  can  indeed  be  the 
Captain  of  his  own  Destiny.  What  David  Lubin  achieved 
was  not  so  much  the  result  of  brilliant  intellect  as  of  character 
and  determination ;  of  sheer  hard  work ;  of  reasoning  from 
cause  to  effect ;  of  observation,  comparison  and  generaliza- 
tion. 

His  mother  had  built  up  the  boy's  character  in  early 
childhood,  impressing  for  ever  on  his  plastic  mind  the  basic 
principles  of  integrity.  As  he  grew  up  he  hungered  and 
thirsted  after  Justice.  He  looked  around  him,  and  his 
mind  marveled  at  the  wondrous  justice  displayed  in  a 
universe  where  the  principle  of  balance,  of  equilibrium,  of 
attraction  and  repulsion,  holds  suns  and  worlds  and  solar 
and  stellar  systems  in  one  harmonious  whole.  From  the 
macrocosm  he  turned  to  the  microcosm  and  saw  social 
justice  dependent  on  a  like  balance  between  the  several 
forces  in  the  body  politic.  He  yearned  for  ideal  justice, 
and  recognized  that  its  foundations  are  laid  in  economic 
justice,  in  the  just  weight  and  the  just  measure.  He  real- 
ized that  justice  knows  nothing  of  races  or  frontiers,  that 
justice  for  one  is  contingent  on  justice  for  all,  and  this  was  the 
basis  of  his  internationalism.  The  International  Institute 
of  Agriculture,  as  he  conceived  it,  was  the  concrete  result 
of  such  abstract  reasoning. 

And  he  had  the  faith  and  vision  of  the  Seer.  The  ultimate 
triumph  of  justice  was  to  him  a  certainty,  and  this  certainty 
gave  him  strength.  With  this  note  of  confident  assurance, 
as  expressed  in  a  letter  written  in  March,  1918,  to  a  relative 
then  fighting  with  the  British  army  in  Palestine,  let  me  close 
this  record  of  his  life : 

"The  life  of  Israel,  the  teaching  of  the  Prophets  has  served, 
is  serving,  and  is  still  to  serve  in  establishing  the  rule  of 
justice  among  the  nations,  among  the  nations  individually 
and  the  nations  collectively. 

"And  it  is  this  rule  which  we  commonly  designate  by  the 
name  of  Democracy.     This  Democracy,  starting  as  a  ray  of 


352  DAVID  LUBIN 

light  emanating  from  the  very  throne  of  the  Almighty,  pro- 
jected on  a  world  steeped  in  deep  darkness,  has  made  for 
itself  a  pathway  of  freedom,  a  pathway  growing  ever  broader 
and  broader.  Slowly  and  painfully  this  Democracy  has 
made  room  for  itself,  gaining  gromid  inch  by  inch. 

*'The  signposts  along  the  path  it  has  pursued  are  many, 
and  stretch  back  into  the  dim  ages  of  the  past.  We  dis- 
cern them  in  the  signing  of  Magna  Charta,  in  the  rise  of  the 
City  Republics  of  the  Middle  Ages,  in  the  rise  of  the  Hansa 
towns.  We  discern  them  in  the  birth  of  Parliaments,  in 
the  limitations  placed  on  Monarchical  Rule,  in  the  overthrow 
of  Feudalism,  and  in  the  emancipation  of  the  Slave.  And 
now  we  behold  this  force.  Democracy,  strong  enough  to 
stand  erect  and  challenge  to  the  death  the  still  surviving 
powers  of  Autocracy.  .  .  . 

*'In  this  fight  there  is  no  line  of  demarcation;  in  this 
there  is  a  complete  '  at-one-ment  * ;  in  this  service  there  is 
no  Jew,  no  Gentile ;    all  the  forces  of  Democracy  are  Israel. 

"And  victory  will  come  in  the  end ;  if  not  in  our  day  then 
in  the  days  to  come.  We  believe  this  as  we  believe  that 
God  is  the  God  of  Justice,  that  He  is  'The  Lord  our  Right- 


INDEX 


i 


INDEX 

Adler,  Doctor  Felix,  307 

letter  to,  288 
Adotte,  Mr.,  82-83 

Agitation  of  political  parties  in  America,  115 
Agresti,  Signora 

letters  to,  204,  229,  234,  238-239,  302,  325 

Lubin's  meeting  with,  169 
Agresti,  Signor  Antonio,  188 
Agriculture,  as  considered  by  Lubin,  4-5,  6-7 

decline  in  staples  of,  133 

depressed  condition  of,  115,  133-135 

House  Committee  on,  125 

influenced  by  transportation  and  tariff,  112,  117,  119-120 

in  France,  170-173 

International  Institute  of,  in  Rome,  see  International  Institute 

Lubin's  efforts  to  secure  protection  for,  119-129 

system  of  chambers  of,  280-281 

world  organization  of,  5,  166,  183,  184,  189 
Alexander,  Joshua  W.,  Chairman  of  House  Committee  on   Merchant 

Marine,  302 
Alexander,  King,  259 
Allenby,  General,  342 
Alia  California,  83 

Altman,  Miss  Rebecca,  letters  to,  154-164 
America,  see  United  States 
American  Agricidturist,  6,  170 
American  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  France,  168 

American  Commission  to  investigate  credit  system,  278,  279-280,  288 
American  Cultivator,  113 
American  Express  Company,  282 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  124,  212,  292 
Am,erican  Israelite,  265,  343 
American  Protective  Tariff  League,  122,  124 
"American  Room"  in  Institute  of  Agriculture,  267,  272 
Amsterdam,  35 
Antin,  Mary,  13,  18 
Argentine,  delegate  of,  258 

economic  status  of,  298-299 
wheat  in,  115 


356  INDEX 

Arizona,  Lubin's  adventures  in,  28,  30-33,  60 
Arnold,  Matthew,  9 
Atlantic  Monthly,  326 
Austria,  forestry  laws  of,  104 
schools  and  museums  of,  104 

Bacon,  Robert,  Under  Secretary  of  State,  269 

Bailey,  Senator,  influence  of,  243-244 

Balfour,  Arthur,  quoted,  342-343 

Balkan  States,  257,  258,  260,  261 

Behar,  Nissim,  74 

Belgrade,  258 

Bell,  Moberly,  letter  to  Lubin,  236 

Berlin,  104,  134,  135;  234 

Lubin's  experience  in,  235 
Bemat,  Doctor,  letter  to,  217-218,  248 
Bible,  9,  44 

Bonnheim,  Mrs.  Fanny,  sister  of  Lubin,  34 
Borghese,  Prince  Scipione,  204 
Bosco,  Professor,  188 

Brandeis,  Justice  Louis,  letter  to  66,  343-345 
Brest-Litovsk,  peace  of,  345 
Brigham,  J.  H.,  letter  to,  134 
Brighton,  England,  237 
Brown,  Walter  James,  letter  to,  237 
Brusati,  General,  aide-de-camp  to  King,  177,  178,  179 
Bryan,  Mr.,  eloquence  of,  124 
Bryn  Mawr,  308 
Buck,  Sir  Edward,  214,  243,  244 
Budapest,  135,  166,  234 
Bukarest,  260 
Bulgaria,  257,  260 

Bund  der  Landwiriher,  reports  of,  220 
Bureaucracy,  European,  227-229 
Business,  Lubin's  start  in,  38-42 

California  Citrus  Fruit  Exchange,  93 
California  Fruit  Growers'  Exchange,  4,  86,  105 
California  Museum  Association,  96,  106 
California,  37 

competition  of  Oriental  labor  in,  136 

development  of,  60 

exhibit  of  early  relics  in,  107-108 

farm  labor  situation  in,  82 

foreign  market  for  fruits  of,  105 


INDEX  357 

California  {Contiwuei) 

fruit-growing  in,  85-93,  106,  117 

gold  mine  prosperity,  25,  84 

pioneer  days  in,  26-27 

resemblance  to  Mediterranean  countries,  97,  106 

richness  of  soil,  84 

State  Grange  of,  122 

wealth  of,  84 
Canada,  economic  status  of,  298-299 
Cannon,  Frank,  Senator  from  Utah,  141 
"Capital",  25 
Caporetto,  defeat  of,  341 

Cappelli,  Marquis,  President  of  the  Society  of  Italian  Agriculturists,  194 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  25 
Carmen  Sylva,  261 

letter  to,  262-263 
Central  Europe,  at  Rome  conference,  208,  209 

outlook  of,  203 
Central  Labor  Union,  140 
Central  Pacific  Railroad,  99 
Chandler,  Senator,  of  New  Hampshire,  122 
Channing,  William  EUery,  24 
Charterhouse,  England,  309 
Chicago,  great  fire  of,  34 
Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  125 
Chicago  Exchange,  250 
Cicero,  9,  43,  96 
Civil  War,  21-22 
Clark,  Doctor  C.  C,  250 
Cleveland,  Rose,  307 
Colletti,  Professor,  188 

Colusa  County,  Cal.,  Lubin's  farm  in,  81,  110 
Commonwealth  of  Nations,  Lubin's  idea  of,  328-331 
Concini,  Commendatore,  175 
Conservation  of  natural  resources,  269 
Constantinople,  261 
Covent  Garden  Market,  93,  105 
Cracow,  Poland,  15 

Crespi,  Signor,  Minister  of  Supplies,  quoted,  342 
Crocker,  Judge,  99,  100,  101 
Crocker,  Mr.,  60 

Crocker,  Mrs.  Margaret,  97,  100,  101-102 
Crocker  Art  Gallery,  100,  108 
Crozier,  Doctor  John  Beatie,  interview  with  Lubin,  288-289 


358  INDEX 

Davids,  Mrs.  Rhys,  307 

letter  from,  308 
D'Antuni,  Prince,  212 
Daranye,  Mr.,  Hungarian  Minister,  220 
Darwin,  Charles,  24 

Department  of  Agriculture  (U.  S.),  249,  250 
Dingley  TariflF  Bill,  141 

amendment  to,  141 
Dollar  a  symbol  of  liberty,  2-3  \ 
Draga,  Queen,  259 
Dreyfus,  Louis,  quoted,  250,  251 
Durand,  Doctor  Dana,  297,  307 

Earl,  Mb.,  commission  merchant,  86 

Earl  of  Jersey,  214 

Education,  Lubin's  views  on,  305-306,  320-323 

Elequina  Island,  254 

Elliott,  Sir  Thomas,  214,  225 

Ely,  Professor,  University  of  Wisconsin,  122 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  24 

Enelow,  Doctor  H.  G.,  76 

Engels,  Mr.,  25 

Etlmological  Museum  at  San  Diego,  108 

European  war,  281-282,  303,  324 

result  of,  285-288,  303 
Ezekiel,  M.  J.,  sculptor,  307 

Faina,  Count,  President  of  Royal  Commission,  217,  240 
Farm,  Lubin's,  81-84,  110 
Farm  Bureau  movement,  282 
Farmers,  American,  267-268 

an  organized  power,  282 

importance  in  winning  war,  281-282 

land  assets  of,  277 

Lubin's  opinion  of,  6-7 

Lubin's  work  for,  267-279 

nation-wide  organization  of,  280 
Federal  Farm  Loan  Act,  279-280 
Federal  Reserve  Act,  346 
Ferrero,  Guglielmo,  307 
Fletcher,  Duncan  U.,  7,  274,  279,  284,  302 
Flood,  Mr.,  Chairman  of  Foreign  Affairs  Committee,  302 
"Food  Control  and  Democracy  ",  326 

France  at  organization  of  Litemational  Institute  of  Agriculture,  208-209 
Free  Trade,  Lubin's  views  on,  136-138 


INDEX  359 

French  Revolution,  25 

Fronte  Intemo,  347 

Fruit,  foreign  market  for,  105 

in  England,  93,  105 

raising  and  marketing  of  California,  84,  85-93 
Fruit  Growers'  Convention,  86 
Furuseth,  Andrew,  sailors'  champion,  144 

Galenqa,  Signor,  Under  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Interior,  quoted,  342 

Galitzin,  Prince,  letter  to,  221-222 

Germany,  at  Rome  conference,  205 

Giglioli,  Professor,  287 

Giolitti,  Cav.  Giovanni,  Prime  Minister,  174,  197 

King's  letter  to,  199-200 
Giomaii  d'ltalia  Agricolo,  347 
Gompers,  Samuel,  122,  124,  144,  293 

letters  to,  292-293,  293-294,  301-302 
Goodwin,  Mr.,  Congressman,  302 
Government,  business  methods  applied  to,  256 
Grange,  influence  of,  115,  122,  123 

Lubin  fails  to  arouse,  167,  268 

support  of  Lubin,  122,  125,  212,  302 
Griscom,  Lloyd,  242 
Guerrazzi,  Francesco  Domenico,  185 
Guerrazzi,  Gian  Francesco,  co-worker  with  Lubin,  186,  188,  196,  220 

quoted,  185-186,  197 
Guild,  Curtis,  American  Ambassador  to  Russia,  254 
Guyot,  M.  Yves,  French  economist,  168 

Hammehstein-Lockstein,  Mb.,  Prussian  Minister  of  Agriculture,  134 
Hanna,  Senator  Mark,  126 

letter  to,  127-129 
Harte,  Bret,  96 

JHays,  Mr.,  Secretary  of  State,  202 
Herrick,  Myron  C,  275 
Herron,  L.  S.,  letter  to,  278 

Hill,  Dr.  William  F.,  Pennsylvania  State  Grange,  205,  212 
Hill,  Sir  Norman,  333 
Holy  Land,  20,  81 

free  from  Turks,  342 

Lubin's  trip  to,  65-70 

see  also  Palestine 
Home  Market  Club  of  Boston,  125 
Hoover,  Secretary,  quoted,  117,  118 
Hopkins,  J.,  60 


360  INDEX 

House  Committee  on  Agriculture,  hearing  before,  125 
Howard,  J.  B.,  Department  of  Agriculture,  294 
Hungary,  celebration  in,  135 

joins  International  Institute,  220 
Hunt,  Governor,  29 
Huntington,  C.  P.,  60,  91 
Hurwitz,  Henry,  letter  to,  332-33S 
Huxley,  Thomas  H.,  25,  26 

Ideals  of  Lubin,  50,  60,  177 
Immigration  problem  in  United  States,  199 
Imperiali,  Marchese,  Italian  Ambassador,  261 

letter  to,  261 
India,  wheat  in,  115 

Intercollegiate  Menorah  Association,  332 
International  Association  of  Master  Cotton  Spinners  and  Manufacturers, 

224 
International   Chamber  of  Agriculture,  see  International    Institute   of 

Agriculture 
International  Chamber  of  Commerce,  303 
"International  Confederation  of  Democracies  under  a  Constitution",  328 

quoted,  329 
International  Harvester  Company,  107 

International  Institute  of  Agriculture,  in  Rome,  1,  2,  13,  66,  70,  112, 
135,  324-325,  351 

activities  of,  297 

affected  by  war,  326-327 

America  represented,  257 

"American  Room"  in,  267 

appropriation  for,  233 

article  2,  quoted,  209-210 

article  9,  quoted,  210 

bureaucratic  element  in,  250 

building  for,  erected,  233 

delegates  to,  205.  206,  210,  241,  326 

duties  of  a  delegate,  267 

compared  to  Eiffel  Tower,  267 

First  General  Assembly,  249,  253 

function  of,  189-191,  207-208,  210,  211,  215 

immigration  problem  ruled  out  of  program,  291 

inaugurated,  243 

letter  of  Victor  Emanuel  HI  regarding  it,  199-200 

Lubin  delegate  to,  231,  234 

Lubm's  idea  of  founding  it,  70-72,  189,  191-192,  208,  233 

meeting  to  organize,  205,  206,  212 


INDEX  361 

International  Institute  of  Agriculture  {Coniinuect) 

opening  session,  237,  240 

organization  of,  217 

Permanent  Committee  of,  209-211,  250,  295,  326 

publications  issued  by,  271 

rules  out  question  of  immigration  from  program,  291 

strengthened  by  war,  325 

ratified  by  America,  228,  230 
by  Balkan  States,  260 
by  forty-six  nations,  249 
by  Great  Britain,  223 
by  Turkey,  261 

resolution  of  Lubin  adopted  by,  345-346 
International  Labor  Bureau,  303 

International  Races  Congress,  Lubin's  paper  for,  264-265 
International  Trade  Union  Congress,  293 
International  Transport,  303 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  300 
Inventions,  Lubin's,  23,  24,  34-35,  40,  46,  64,  103,  165 
Ireland,  105 

Irish,  John  P.,  quoted,  83-84 
Irwin,  Will,  307,  308 

interview  with  Lubin,  339-341 
"Israel  and  his  Ideal  ",  331 
Italy,  at  organization  of  International  Institute  of  Agriculture,  208,  209 

factor  in  modem  thought,  168-169 

government  seizure  of  railways,  117 

in  war,  327,  341-342,  347 

King  of,  see  Victor  Emanuel  HI 

Lubin's  impressions  of,  106-107,  306-307 

I)osition  after  war,  287 
Italian  Royal  Conunission,  217,  220,  237,  239,  240 

Jaffa,  65 

James,  George  B.,  letter  to,  113 

Jewish  race,  character  of,  15 

in  America,  36 

influences  on,  14,  333 

in  Palestine,  67-68,  78,  79 

in  Russian  Poland,  13-15,  16,  36,  37,  68 

key  to  intellectual  life,  78-79 

Lubin's  idea  of  its  destiny,  69,  70-74,  74-75,  76-77, 154-158,  262,  288. 
331,  332 

record  of,  8,  332 
Jonescu,  Take,  260 


362  INDEX 

Johnson,  Grove  L.,  81 

quoted,  116,  125 
Jones,  Aaron,  anecdote,  of  123 

Kahn,  Julius,  227,  302 

letter  to,  244-247 
Keene,  Francis,  American  Consul,  348 
Kirby,  Captain,  28,  30,  32 
Klodowa,  birthplace  of  Lubin,  15 
Koch,  Commendatore,  257,  258 
Kokovtsof,  Mr.,  Minister  of  Finance,  254-256 

Labor,  comjietition  of  Oriental,  136 

activity  in  organized,  144 

reasons  for  migration  of,  290-293 
League  of  Nations,  303,  330,  345,  349 

first,  10,  212 

Lubin  a  pioneer  for,  265 
"Let  There  Be  Light",  70,  149, 154,  272,  328 

outline  of,  150-153 

quoted,  145,  151 
Letters  of  David  Lubin,  quoted,  see  under  Lubin,  David 
Life  work  of  Lubin,  3-9,  80,  143,  212 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  24,  45 
Lionelli,  Signor,  176,  177,  178 
Liverpool,  wheat  center.  111,  112,  120,  224,  298 
Llanos,  Eva,  258 
Llanos,  Julio,  258 
Lodge,  Senator,  letter  to,  204 
London,  exhibitions  in,  105 

Lubin  in,  167,  297,  333 
Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth,  24 
Lorenzoni,  Professor  Giovanni,  204,  271 
Los  Angeles,  27 
Lubin,  David,  acquired  financial  independence,  7 

advertisements  written  by,  48,  49-50 

advocates  system  of  chambers  of  agriculture,  280-281 

anecdotes  of,  17,  21,  22-23,  27,  30-31,  31-32,  34,  40^2,  45-47,  56-57, 
97-102,  105, 109-110, 116, 123-124, 183, 194,  201,  214,  235 

appointed  delegate  to  permanent  committee  of  Institute,  231 

appreciation  of  good  workmanship,  23 

as  employer,  53-59,  82-83 ;  educator,  305 ;  farmer,  4,  81-84 ;  fruit- 
grower, 81-84,  85-93;  lamp  salesman,  34;  propagandist,  216^ 
220,  222-230,  237-240;  reformer,  11,  69;  SacramenUn,  95-102, 
106-110;  writer,  154,  217,  236 


INDEX  36S 

Lubin  (Continued) 

at  Chinese  Embassy,  240 ;  Turkish  Embassy,  24 

at  convention  of  Southern  Commercial  Congress,  274 

attitude  on  Zionism,  343-345;    on  organized  labor,  293;  towards 

women,  143-144 
at  zenith  of  powers,  176 
audience  with  Carmen  Sylva,  261 ;    with  Grand  Vizier,  261 ;    with 

King  of  Italy,  180-181 
belief  in  "balance  of  power",  293 
believer  in  democracy,  60,  79 ;   in  games,  305 ;   in  labor  organizations, 

59 
birthplace,  10,  13,  15 

brings  pressure  to  bear  on  Balkan  States,  257-261 
callers  on,  307 

character  of,  10,  11,  17,  18,  20.  129-130,  131,  143,  212-213,  234,  271 
children  of,  130,  217,  305-306 
correspondence,  large,  236,  237,  239,  295 ;  with  American  bankers, 

275 ;  with  H.  G.  WeUs,  334-338 
culture,  64 
death,  348 

dismissed  from  Committee  of  Institute  and  reinstated,  242-243 
dualism  of  nature,  65,  66 
early  years  of,  13-37 
economist,  11 
education,  64,  113 
efifect  on  associates,  176,  193 
efforts  to  acquire  art  treasures,  107 ;  to  establish  international  action 

on  agriculture,  166, 173-184, 185-216 ;  to  secure  historical  museum, 

107-108;    to  secure  rural  credits,  274-279;   to  reform  tariff  and 

secure  protection  for  agriculture,  4-5,  119-129,  133-136,  139-141, 

165-166 
environment,  24-25,  113,  143 
experiences  in  Arizona,  28,  30-33 
fancy  for  sea,  17 
father  of,  15 
favorite  books,  9,  26 

first  horseback  ride,  27 ;  job,  22-23 ;  public  work,  93 
follow-up  system,  258-259 

fondness  for  music,  27,  307 ;  for  moving  pictures,  307 
founder  of  California  Museum  Association,  96,  106 
frankness  of,  8,  225 
funeral,  348 
generosity,  56,  57,  109 
head  of  mail-order  business,  3,  53,  282 
health  of,  165,  174,  176,  202,  234,  288,  300,  306,  338-339 


364  INDEX 

Lubin  {Continued) 

idea  of  commonwealth  of  nations,  328-331 ;  of  destiny  of  Jewish  race, 
69,  70-74,  74-75,  76-77,  154-158,  262,  288 ;  of  service,  75-76,  80, 
143  ;  of  world  war,  327-328 

ideals  of,  50,  60,  177 

idealism  of,  2,  3,  8,  9,  20,  289 

impressed  by  Italy,  106-107;    by  Palestine,  65-67,  77,  78,  79;    by 
Polish  Jew,  36-37 

incongruity  of  surroundings,  60-61 

influence  of  mother  on,  18-20 

in  Germany,  257;  Petersburg,  254-256;  Rome,  99,  165,  169-183, 
185-202,  212,  240,  249,  279,  282,  294-301,  305-323,  326 ;  m  Serbia, 
258-259 

integrity,  109 

interest  in  Austria,  104 ;  London,  105 ;  Spain,  103 

internationalist,  290-304,  338 

interview  with  Count  Pier  Desiderio  Pasolini,  194-195 ;  with  Doctor 
John  Beatie  Crozier,  288 ;  with  Kokovtsof ,  254-256  ;  with  Marquis 
Capelli,  194;  with  Professor  Maffeo  Pantaleoni,  187-188;  with 
Take  Jonescu,  260-261 ;  with  Will  Irwin,  339-341 

intuition,  43,  61 

inventions  of,  23,  24,  34-35,  40,  46,  64,  103, 165 

joins  Grange,  Q5 

joins  sister  in  business,  37 

lack  of  aesthetic  sense,  96,  97,  132 

last  weeks  of  life,  346-348 

leaflet  on  Raiffeissen  system,  271 

letters  quoted,  1,  6,  7,  11,  22,  28-29,  29-30,  48,  50-51,  58,  59,  63,  66- 
67,  69-70,  70-72,  72-74,  74-75,  75-76,  76-77,  83,  102,  102-103, 
104-105,  113,  127-129,  134,  148-150,  154-164,  170-173,  204,  213, 
216,  217-220,  221-222,  229-230,  232-233,  234,  237,  238-239,  239- 
240,  244-247,  251-252,  261,  262-263,  269,  270-271,  275-277,  287- 
288,  291-293,  293-294,  295-296,  296-297,  301-302,  302-303,  308, 
309-319, 320-323, 325, 331-332,  332-333, 334-337,  343-345, 351-352 

life  work,  3-9,  61,  71,  80,  143,  212 

lost  in  desert,  31-32 

love  of  adventure,  17,  26 ;  of  children,  305,  306 ;  of  debate,  96 ;  of 
home,  143 ;  for  stories,  20 

marriage,  63,  144 

master  passion  of,  1-2 

meets  Signora  Agresti,  169 

memorializes  Congress,  139 

mental  development  of,  138,  144-147 

method  of  presenting  ideas,  187,  214;  of  spreading  ideas,  271-274; 
of  trade,  39-45 ;  of  training  employees,  53-56 


INDEX  365 

Lubin  (Continue^ 

missionary  spirit,  49 

modesty,  9-10 

naming  of,  16 

opinion  of  Europe,  102-103 ;  of  fanners,  6-7 

orator,  244 

origin  of  facial  scar,  15-16 

paper  for  the  International  Races  Congress,  264-265 

part  in  Sacramentan  life,  95-102,  106-110 

personal  appearance,  31,  338-339 

plan  of  world  organization,  262 

pioneer  in  advocating  parcel-post  system,  4,  116-117,  282-284;  in 
founding  California  Fruit  Growers'  Exchange,  4  ;  in  field  of  inter- 
national cooperation,  5,  10 ;  in  founding  California  Museum,  109 ; 
in  fight  with  "  jobber  ",  52 ;  in  mail-order  business,  3 ;  in  movement 
for  "League  of  Nations",  265;  in  one-price  method  of  trade,  40, 
42-43,  44-45 ;  in  reducing  railway  rates,  4 ;  in  reform,  43 ;  in 
scientific  fruit-growing,  81-82 

poetic  side  of,  17-18 

processes  of  mind,  132 

prophet  of  democracy,  79 

protectionist,  112-119 

quoted,  6,  7,  9,  17,  30,  38-42,  42-43,  44-45,  47,  51-52,  53,  53-55,  57, 
61-62,  65,  82,  88-91,  92,  96,  97,  98-99,  100,  101,  105, 109,  111,  114, 
115,  117-118,  122,  126,  132,  135,  136-138,  145,  146,  151,  164,  167, 
175,  177,  178,  180,  181,  183,  185,  187,  191,  192,  198,  201,  203,  214, 
215,  223,  226,  227-228,  250-251,  253,  254,  255-256,  259,  264-265, 
265-266,  277,  278,  282-284,  286,  299,  303-304,  320,  329-330,  339- 
341,  341-342,  347 

racial  inheritance  of,  11 

reading,  17,  26,  148,  306 

realization  of  meaning  of  Jewish  religion,  68 

recapitulation  of  life,  349-352 

regard  for  Italy,  306-307 

relations,  132,  305 

resolve  to  fathom  meaning  of  religion,  33,  35 

return  to  Poland,  35,  36 

righteousness,  feeling  for,  2,  49,  50,  78,  143,  288,  345 

runs  away  from  home,  17 

sees  need  for  International  Commerce  Commission,  297-300 

service,  61,  75,  146-147,  239 

settles  in  Malvern,  217 ;  in  Philadelphia,  138 ;  in  San  Francisco,  144 

side  lights  on,  154 

Signora  Agresti's  tribute  to,  349-352 

speech  of,  31 


366  INDEX 

Lubin  {Continue^ 

start  in  business,  38-42 

statesman  and  diplomat,  10,  214,  223,  225 

storekeeper  in  Sacramento,  3,  9,  39-58,  61 

treasurer  for  McKinley  Club  in  California,  127 

trips  to  Europe,  35, 93, 102, 130, 132-138, 164, 234 ;  to  Holy  Land,  63-70 

turning  point  in  career,  77 

underlying  motive  of  life,  8,  9,  69 

victim  of  writer's  cramp,  309 

views  on  America  after  war,  286-289;   on  education,   305-306,  320- 
323 ;  on  free  trade,  136-138 

"  wander  years",  26-34 

work,  feeling  for  his,  301,  303 

work  for  American  farmers,  267-279 

*'  world's  greatest  internationalist",  338 

zeal  for  public  good,  120-121,  126 
Lubin,  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Lubin,  216,  301,  305 

letter  to,  309-319,  320-323 
Lubin,  Grace,  217,  305 

letter  to,  309-319,  320-323 
Lubin,  Jeannette,  Lubin's  sister,  26,  37 
Lubin,  Jesse,  Lubin's  son,  22,  48 
Lubin,  Simon,  Lubin's  brother,  17,  22 

Lubin,  Simon,  Lubin's  son,  letters  to,  63,  148-149,  149-150,  275-277,  308 
Lubin,  Teddy,  Lubin's  son,  217,  305 

letter  to,  309-312,  315-316,  320-323 
Lubin  Club  in  Philadelphia,  140 
"  Lubinism  "  campaign  issue,  126 
"Lubin  Tribulator",  103 
Lusitania,  327,  346 

Lutzow,  H.,  Austrian  Ambassador,  letter  to  Lubin,  241 
Luzzatti,  Luigi,  Minister  of  Treasury,  174,  175,  196,  197,  206,  242,  295 

quoted,  178 

writes  letter  introducing  Lubin  to  King  of  Italy,  178,  179 

Macara,  Sir  Charles,  letter  to,  270-271 

supf)ort  of  Lubin,  224-225 
Maimonides,  9,  43,  149,  339 
Magyar  Gazdaszovetseg,  217 

Mail-order  business,  organized  by  Lubin,  3,  53,  63 
Malvern,  England,  217 
Manchester,  England,  225 
"Man's  Place  in  Nature",  25 
Markham,  Edwin,  159 
Marx,  Karl,  25,  59 


INDEX  867 

McKinley,  President,  138,  140 
McKinley  Clab  in  California,  126 
"Mechanics'  Store"  in  Sacramento,  43,  53, 144 
Mediterranean  Basin,  287,  348 

Lubin's  claims  for,  97 
Melegari,  Count,  Italian  Ambassador,  254 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  9,  25,  44 
Mills,  Miss  Adella,  letter  to,  70 
Mills.  William  H.,  letter  to,  234 
Minto,  Lord,  214 

"Mission  of  Israel  and  a  Commonwealth  of  Nations  ",  265-266 
Montemartini,  Giovanni,  head  of  Labor  Bureau,  174,  175,  196,  206 
Mourawieff,  Mr.,  Russian  Ambassador  to  France,  205 

Nagel,  Mr.,  Secretary  of  Commerce,  297 

Naples,  102 

Nebraska  Farmer,  278 

Neil,  Charles  P.,  69 

New  Orleans,  34 

New  Republic,  quoted,  131 

New  York,  124,  126,  165 

in  1855,  17 
New  York  Evening  Post,  347 
Nordau,  Doctor  Max,  73 
Norris,  Frank,  84 
"Novel  Proposition  Revolutionizing  the  Distribution  of  Wealth  ",  112, 121 

campaign  issue,  122-129 

quoted,  114 

Ocean  Cabbiage,  a  public  utility,  299-303 
"Octopus,  The",  84 

One-price  basis  of  trade,  40,  42-43,  44-45 
Ourousoff,  Prince  Leo,  letter  to,  239-240 
Overalls,  invented  by  Lubin,  40,  46 

patent  sold,  46-47 
"Origin  of  Species  ",  24 
Owens,  Doctor  Clarence  J.,  274,  279    . 

quoted,  304 

Pacific  Rural  Press,  102 

Palermo,  197 

Palestine,  democracy  in,  78 

impression  on  Lubin,  65-67,  77,  78,  79 

in  1884,  66,  67,  77,  78 

land  tenure  in,  78 

see  also  Holy  Land 


868  INDEX 

Pantaleoni,  Professor  Maffeo,  of  Rome  University,  188,  196,  206 

interview  with  Lubin,  187-188 

letter  to,  216 
Parcel-post  system  in  United  States,  4,  111,  114, 115, 116,  118,  282 

plan  devised  by  Lubin,  282-284 
Paris,  Lubin  in,  167 
Pasadowsky,  Count,  235 
Pasha  Hilmi,  Grand  Vizier  of  Turkey,  261 
Pasolini,  Count  Pier  Desiderio,  interview  with  Lubin,  194-195 
Patent,  sale  of  Lubin's,  46-47 
Patten  comer  in  wheat,  250 
Peace  Conference,  346 
Peace  Palace  at  Hague,  5 
Pena,  Doctor  Roque  Saenz,  President  of  Argentina,  letter  to,  291- 

293 
Perkias,  George  C,  Senator  from  California,  139,  227 
Peru,  letter  to  Minister  of  Agriculture  of,  295-296 
Petersburg,  Russia,  254 
Philadelphia,  campaign  in,  139  ^ 

Lubin  club  in,  140 

Lubin  settles  in,  138 
Pliillips,  Sir  Owen,  333 
Pmchot,  Gifford,  1,  282 
Pisa,  178,  180,  181,  187 
Plato's  Dialogues,  9,  96,  306 
Poland,  Russian,  10,  13,  20 

life  in,  13-15,  16,  67 
Porter  Brothers,  commission  merchants,  86 
Predanovitch,  Yacha,  Minister  of  Agriculture,  259 
Press,  attitude  towards  protection,  125-126,  140 

criticism  of  trusts,  267 

Lubin's  opinion  of,  235 

on  rural  credits  and  farm  finance,  279 
"Promised  Land,  The  ",  13 

quoted,  18 
Protection,  agitation  to  equalize,  120-129,  139-14E 

Lubin's  advanced  views  on,  133-134 

to  agriculture,  119-120 

to  American  industries,  112-113,  121 

Raiffeisen  System  of  credits,  271,  277 
Railroads,  policy  of,  84-85,  86,  87,  91 

influence  of,  297 
Ravay  Luigi,  Minister  of  Agriculture,  174,  214 
Review  of  Reviews,  249 


INDEX  S69 

Rhone,  Miss  Mary,  158 

Rome,  Lubin  in,  9, 165. 169-183, 185-202,  212,  240,  249,  279,  282,  294-301, 
305-323,  326 

meeting  of  representatives  to  form  International  Institute  of  Agricul- 
ture in,  205,  206-211 
Roosevelt,  President,  202,  230,  231 

letter  to,  269 
Root,  Elihu,  Secretary  of  State,  230 
Rubel,  Jacob,  quoted,  39 
Ruhland,  Doctor  Charles,  203,  204 
Rumania,  257,  260 
Runciman,  Rt.  Hon.  Walter,  333 
Rural  credit,  274-279 

American  Commission  on,  278,  279-280,  288 

German  system  of,  277 
Russia,  after  war,  287 

economic  status  of,  298-299 

importance  of,  252 

joins  Institute,  253 

lack  of  cooperation,  253-256 

revolution  in,  330 

Sacramento,  Department  Store  and  Mail  Order  House  in,  63 

Lubin's  first  store  in,  39-58 

Lubih's  part  in  life  of,  95-102,  106-110 
Sacramento  Bee,  102 

quoted,  45 
Sacramento  Record  Union,  quoted,  88-91,  92,  112,  116 
San  Diego,  ethnological  museum  at,  108 
San  Francisco,  26-27 

Chamber  of  Commerce  in.  Ill 

earthquake  in,  226 

Lubin  settles  in,  144 
San  Francisco  Bulletin,  discussion  in,  146 
San  Francisco  Examiner,  quoted,  83 
San  Rossore  (near  Pisa),  178,  179,  180,  181,  185 
Saturday  Evening  Post,  quoted,  338-339 
Sears,  Roebuck  and  Company,  282 
Seering,  Professor  Max,  135 
Serbia,  257,  258-259,  260 
Serra,  Padre  Junipero,  107 
Shelby,  Doctor,  165 
Shepherd,  Morris,  Senator,  302 

"Should  it  be  Labor  or  Should  it  be  Service  ",  quoted,  146 
Siberia,  287 


S70  INDEX 

Sicily,  117 

Siemoni,  Commendatore,  Director  General  of  Italian  Ministry  of  Agri- 
culture, 174 
Socialism  in  United  States,  144 
Socrates,  43 
Sorrento,  287 
South  America,  287 
Southern  Commercial  Congress,  279,  302 

convention  at  Nashville,  274 
Southern  Pacific  Railroad,  91 
Soviet,  principle  of,  153 
Spain,  Lubin's  interest  in,  103 
Spencer,  Herbert,  9,  25,  26,  44,  91,  339 
Spinoza,  quoted,  339 
Stanford,  Governor,  87 
Stanford,  Leland,  60 

State  Agricultural  Society  of  California,  quoted,  85 
Stead,  William  T.,  249 

letter  to,  296-297,  303 
Stetson,  Charles  Walter,  307 
Stolypin,  Mr.,  Imperial  Chancellor,  254 
Stone,  George  F.,  Secretary  of  Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  interview  with 

Lubin,  223-224 
Straus,  Oscar,  307 
Sulzer,  Governor,  7 
•*  Synthetic  Philosophy  ",  25 

Tatt,  President,  275 
Tariff,  abroad,  115 

as  political  issue,  119-129,  136-141 

in  America,  112-113,  115,  119,  120,  121 

in  Italy,  117 
Thayer,  Professor  William  Roscoe,  307 
Thoreau,  Henry  W.,  24 
Tinws  (London),  235,  272 
Toronto  Globe,  237 
Trade,  early  methods  of,  38-39 

Lubin's  method,  39-45,  63 
Trans-Mississippi  Commercial  Congress  at  St.  Louis,  124 
Tribuna  (Rome),  176,  347 
Trusts,  American,  267-268 

British  report  on,  298 

industrial,  298-299 

press  criticism  of,  267 


INDEX  871 

United  States,  at  Rome  conference,  205,  207 

delegates  to  American  Commission  on  Credits,  279 

Department  of  Agriculture,  249-250 

Embassy  letter  to  Lubin,  242 

entry  into  war,  328 

industrial  protection  in,  112-113 

immigration  problem  in,  119 

material  prosperity  in,  144 

parcel-post  system  in,  4,  111,  114,  115,  116,  118,  282,  282-284 

political  parties  in,  115,  118 

position  after  war,  285,  286 

represented  in  General  Assembly  of  International  Institute,  257 

socialism  in,  144 

transition  period  in,  25 

trade  relations  with  foreign  countries,  286-287 

wheat  in,  115,  117 

woman's  movement  in,  145 
Universities  visited  by  Lubin,  125 

Vedder,  Elihu,  307 

Victor  Emanuel  HI,  King  of  Italy,  179,  233,  242,  249 

letter  to  Prime  Minister,  197,  198,  199-200 

Lubin's  audience  with,  180-181 
Vienna,  204,  235 

meeting  of  International  Congress  of  Agriculture  in,  220 
Viti  de  Marco,  Marchese  de,  196,  198,  206 

Wanamakeb,  John,  122 

Warsaw,  35 

Washington,  debate  at,  125 

denunciation  of  trusts  in,  191 

hostility  to  Lubin,  166,  202,  212 

Lubin's  fight  in,  for  ratification  of  Institute,  227 

for  an  International  Commerce  Commission,  300,  302 

represented  at  Rome  conference,  205,  207 
Webb,  Major,  President  Baltic  Shipping  Exchange,  297 
Weinstock,  Harris,  Lubin's  partner  and  half-brother,  16,  28,  37,  42,  93, 
100,  105 

letter  to,  331-332 

quoted,  45-47 
Weinstock,  Rachel,  Lubin's  mother,  15 

arrival  in  New  York,  17 

belief  in  son's  destiny,  19-20 

character  of,  18-20 

death  of,  4 


872  INDEX 

Weinstock,  Rachel  (Continued) 

emigration  from  Poland,  16 

indifference  to  comment,  65-66 

in  London,  16 

intuition  and  spiritual  insight,  19 

love  for  own  people,  18 

marriage  to  Weinstock,  16 

return  to  America,  80 

story-teller,  20 

trip  to  Holy  Land,  65-66,  80 
Weinstock,  Solomon,  Lubin's  stepfather,  16 
Weinstock  and  Lubin,  firm  of,  42,  50,  63,  111 

organization  of  corporation,  144 
Wells,  H.  G.,  333 

correspondence  with  Lubin,  334-338 
Wells-Fargo  Express  Company,  282 
Wheat,  foreign  production  of,  115 

in  America,  115,  117 

in  Argentine,  115 

in  India,  115 

Patten  corner  in,  250 

sale  of,  111-112 

supply  determined,  142  ^ 

White,  Henry,  Ambassador  to  Rome,  205,  207,  242  M 

Wiesbaden,  Germany,  74 
Wilson,  Mr.,  Secretary  of  Department  of  Agriculture,  202,  297 

quoted,  227 
Wilson,  President,  during  war,  326,  330,  346,  347 

in  Italy,  349 
Wilson  Administration,  279 
"Woman's  Movement"  in  United  States,  145 
Wood,  Doctor  A.,  205 
"World  Set  Free  ",334 

Yermoloff,  Mb.,  letter  to,  251-252 

Zangwill,  Isbazl,  11 


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